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NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 
HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. 






(■' 



i 



\ - 




^ r 



JJ 



||t0torteal Collecttons 

rdating to 

FAMILY HISTORIES, PEDIGREES, BIOGRAPHIES, 

TRACTS ON WITCHES, HISTORICAL ANTIQUITIES, 

REPRINTS OF RARE AND UNIQUE TRACTS, &c., &C- 

THIRD SERIES. 




i 



Bortbampton: 

PRINTED BY J. TaYLOR & SON, COLLEGE STREET. 
1896. ^ 



, - . • r \ '-^ V I 






•• »• •• 



• « • • • 



A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON 

Castle Hill Church, 

NOW DODDRIDGE, 

AND ITS PASTOEATE, 1674-1895, 

IVom Original DocumenU and Conttmpora/ry Records ; 

WITH 

REPORTS OF THE BI-CENTENARY SERVICES^ 

Sei^embes, 1895 ; AND March, 1896. 

Appendices of Special Papers and Notes, 

BY 

REV. T. GASQUOINE, REV. J. J. COOPER, REV. W. E. MORRIS,- 
DR. NEWTH, PROFESSOR PRYCE, AND OTHERS. 

SUtuaftrattm foitj^ l&m mdt Snft HSrafoinsieft 

By Edwin Bradley and W. J. Rush; 

AND 

Fortradts of the Preachers and Speakers at the 
Bi-Oenteziary Services. 

j^ortj^atnpton : 
Taylor & Son, The Dryden Press, 9, College Street. 

I^ontion: 

Congregational Union of England and Wales, 

Memorial Hall, E.C. 

1896. 



Preface 



BY the courtesy of Mr. S. S. Campion, the proprietor of 
" The Northampton Daily Reporter/' we are able to issue 
in a permanent and acoessible form the very valuable and 
interesting papers on the History of the Church of Doddridge, 
which appeared in his journal just previous to the holding of 
the fii-Centenary services at Castle Hill Church, 1895. The 
papers have been specially revised. Many additions of a 
valuable and interesting nature, which, on account of space, it 
was not possible to include in the newspaper issue, have been 
includod in this work. For these special thanks are due to the 
Eev. T. Gasquoine, Rev. J. J. Cooper, Rev. W. E. Morris, Dr. 
Newth (the Memorial Hall), Professor Pryce (New College), Rev. 
E. N. Tom. Rev. Canon Hull, Rev. J. E. G. Farmer (Woodstock), 
Rev. J. S. Mercer (North Walsham), Rev. G. 8. Ives (Tunstead), 
Rev. J. Joseph (Becking), Rev, W. Davies (Tewkesbury), Rev. 
T. P. Hookey (Abingdon), G. E. Cokayne, Esq. (Clarenceux 
King-of-Arms, Heralds' College), Mrs. W. Mobbs, and to the 
deacons of Castle- Hill Church for permission to consult the 
church records per the late Mr. Jonathan Robinson. As all 
extracts quoted in the following pajsres have been revised with 
the originals an immense amount of work and a very large 
correspondence has been caused. 

John Taylor. 

[We have to thank Mr. John Taylor, of the Dry den Press, 
Northampton, for valuable assistance in the preparation of the 
foregoing history of Doddridge Church. He kindly placed his 
collection of local books and manuscripts -at our service. Several 
important and rare books in the Northampton Free Library have 
been consulted, as well as original documents $ and Mr. T. J. 
George is thanked for his courteous and generous help. Thanks 
are due also to Dr. Newth (Memorial Hall, London), the Rev. T. 
Gasquoine (Bedford), Dr. Pryce (New College, London), the Rev. 
E. L. Tuson and the I>ev. B. M. Morton (Kingsthorpe), Mr. 
Stewart Beattie and Mr. Wm. Clarke (Northampton), etc. The 
files of "The Northampton Mercury" have largely been laid 
under contribution, this newspaper going back to May 2nd, 1720 ; 
and some important information has been gained from unpublished 
manuscripts lent during his lifetime by the late Mr. William 
Mobbs.— Editor " Northampton Daily Reporter."] 



Contents. 



PAOB 

Northampton Church Councils . . 5. 81 

Lollardism at Northampton . . 5, 82 

Bev. Thomas Coleman, Historian of the Independent Churches 

of Northamptonshire 5 

Dissenting Confirregations formed after the Battle of Naseby. 6 

The Act of Uniformity 6 

The Declaration of Indulgences and Licences for Preaching . 6, 49, 87 
The Eev. Samuel Blower, the First Pastor, 1674-1694 . . 7, 88, 89 

The Great Fire of Northampton, 1675 8 

The Rev. Thomas Shepherd, 1694-1696 8,93 

Bibliography of the Bev. Thomas Shepherd 92 

Erection of the Chapel on Castle Hills 10, 91 

The Bev. John Hunt, 1699-1709 12, 93 

Bibliography of the Bev. John Hunt 94 

The Bev. Thomas Tingey, 1700-1728 . . . . . .13,95 

Settlement of the Bev. T. Tingey and College Lane Chuich . 95 

Dr. Bidgley and Mr. Tingey 97 

The Bev. PhiUf) Doddridge, D.D., 1738-1750 16 

The Invitation to Dr. Doddridge from Castle Hill .... 99 

Certificate of the Ordination of Dr. Doddridge 99 

Citation of Dr. Doddridge in the Consistory Court, All Saints' . 21 

Dr. Doddridge on Adult Baptism 100 

Dr. Doddridge at Delapre 101 

Dr. Doddridge's Charity School 102 

Dr. Doddridge's Family Expositor 103 

Epitaphs on Dr. Doddridge * . 36, 105 

Portraits of Dr. Doddridge 106 

Bibliography of Dr. Doddridge 106 

ITie Bev. Bobert Gilbert, 1753-1760 38 

Bibliography of the Bev. Bobert Gilbert. 110 

The Bev. Henry Mayo, 1761 38 

The Bev. William Hextal, 1762-1775 39 

Biblioigraphy of the Bev. William Heztal 110,112 

The Bev. John Hprsey, 1776-1827 . . . . . .42,112 

Bibliography of the Bev. John Horsey 113 

The Bev. Charles James Hyatt, 1827-1833 44 

The Rev. John Bennett, 1833-1859 45.114 

The Bev. Thomas Arnold, 1860-1882 46 

Bibliography of the Bev. Thomas Arnold « . . . . 115 
The ^ev. John Gates. 1879.1883 47 



4 

PAGI 

Bibliofirraphy of the Bev. John Oates 115 

The Rev. Joseph J. Cooper, 1884 AS 

Bibliography of the Kev. J. J. Cooper 116 

The Works of Thomas Shepherd, M. A., by Bev. T. Gasquoine . . 53 
Dr. Doddridge's Academy Lectures, &c., by Bev. T. Gasquoine . 57 
The Bules of Dr. Doddridge's Academy at Northampton ... 63 
Dr. Doddridge and Foreign Missions, by Bev. T. Gk&squoine . . 75 
Service at Dr. Doddridge's Ordination ....... 77 

Association with the Church at Market Harborongh, by the Bev. 

W.E.Morris 79 

Service at Market Harborough , . 80 

The Origin of Castle Hill Church, by Rev. T. Gasquoine. . . 83 
Bichard Hooke, John Harding, and Bobert Massey . 49, 87 

Bothwell Church and College Lane Church (Northampton) . . 88 

Early Church Members at Castle HUl .89 

The Bev. Bichard Davies, Bothwell 90 

The Church Deed of Castle Hills 91 

Mary Wills of Pitsford .27,32,104 

Dr. Doddridge's Letter to Dr. Watts on the Death of Col. Gardiner . 105 
The Formation of King Street Church . . . . . . 110 

"Mary Doddridge" . . .41,111 

Dr. Byland and Castle HUl . . ...... Ill 

Formation of the Unitarian Church, Northampton ... 44, 113 
The Congregational Union at Northampton, 1851 . . . . 113 

Christenings and Burials at Castle Hill 117 

Extracts from Chapel Accounts 118 

Bi-Centenary Services, September, 1895 1, 26 

New Year's Service — Unveiling of Marble Memorial Tablet — 

Presentation of Address to Joseph Jeffery, Esq., J.P., Treasurer 27 
Stone-laying of Doddridge Bi-Centenary Memorial Chapel, St. 

James' End, March, 1896 28 



The Meeting House, 1852 fronU$pieee 

Map of Northampton, showing Meeting Houses in 1746 ... 1 

The Old Meeting House, 1695 ........ 13 

Interior of Dr. Doddridge's Vestry, 1895 21 

The Academy, Sheep Street, 1740; 61 

Old Meeting House, Market Harborough, 1843 77 

Old Manse, Market Harborough, 1843 . ... . . 77 



Portraits of the Preachers and Speakers at the Bi^^entenary Services 1 

Address to Joseph Jeffery, Esq., J.P 27 

Doddridge Bi-Centenary Memorial Chapel, St. James' End . .29 



CASTLE HILL MEETING AND 
DE. PHILIP DODDEDDGE. 



As is the case in so many towns in England, it is 
impossible to gire precise particulars of the origin of 
the oldest dissenting cause in Northampton. The be- 
ginnings of Nonconformity in yarious districts are fre- 
quently undi«oorerable, -without documentary eridence 
smriving, and in most cases without any evidence at 
all. Especially is this to be expected in Northampton, 
which, perhaps, foremost of the towns of Enf^land, has 
been the home of the opponents of the changing ortho- 
doxy of the changing times. How far the fact that 
Northampton has been the special locale of important 
religious and ecclesiastical assemblies is accountable 
for the feelings and opinions of the people cannot be 
said. Most probably each re-acted on the other. 
Northampton m mediaeval times was one of the chief 
centres of industi!^ in England; and the early Parlia- 
ments held within' its castle-guarded walls added to 
its importance as a centre of English civil life. The 
six Greneral Church Councils at Northampton between 
the years 1136 and 1266, including that at which 
Thomas d Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was con- 
denmed as a perjurer and traitor, made men enquire 
curiously into religious dogmas for themselves. The 
peculiar municipu control exercised by the civil 
authorities over All Saints' Church, the chief church 
of the town, further increased the religious inde- 
pendency of the people. Northampton, notwithstand- 
ing its important conventual establishm(».nts, was 
never a church-dominated place. The Mayor shared 
disciplinary powers over the Church with Church 
dignitaries; Lollardism flourished in the borough; 
Protestantism offered victims to the martyring fires; 
Penry, the terror of Queen and Archbishop, found a 
home at Northampton and married there; Martin 
Marprelate's tracts were actually folded and sewn in 
Northampton, and were circulated thence; periodical 
meetings were held for clerics to thresh out difficult 
TeUgious questions, and they were aided in their dis- 
cussions by the Mayor and Aldermen ; the church- 
wardens of All Saints' refused to obey the mandates of 
the Archbishop of the Province; the genius of the 
people became anticlerical. 

The Bev. Thomas Coleman, the historian of the In- 
dependent Churches of Northamptonshire, wrote re- 
specting Castle Hill Church that no certain records of 
its foundation could be found, its origin was lost in 
obscurity. The researches of the more than ^0 years 
that have elapsed since this statement was penned 
have in some degree penetrated that obscurity. It 
has been the idea of some who have enquired into the 
religious history of those times that Castle Hill Church 
may have originated from the congregation of St. 
Giles's Church, who in 1662 lost their pastor through 
the Act of Uniformity. There is no evidence on which 
to base this assumption; facts tend in precisely an 
opposite direction. The probability is that Castle 
Hill Church originated before 1662; and it may have 



6 

been strengthened by secessions from St. Giles'i 
under the Restored Monarchy. St. Giles's Church in 
Cromweirs time was, like St. Peter's, strongly Pres- 
byterian. 

Soon after the Battle of Naseby, in 1645, several dis- 
senting congregations sprang up in Northamptonshire, 
Presbyterians, Independents, and Anabaptists (other- 
wise Free-Willers, and now known simply as Baptists). 
The first to be established in Northampton was^ a 
body of Presbyterians, who gained aicces«ions from St. 
Giles and St. Peter. Where these early, dissenters 
first formed them selves into a distinct Church is 
unknown, where they met is equally obscure. But 
there was this Dissenting Churdh, which soon found 
a rival in a really Independent Church, which was 
enchurched, at Bothwell in 1655. It is known from 
existing documentary evidence that the Northampton 
Presbyterian Churdh was in vigorous existence in 
1674-, and that, after that date, the number of mem- 
bers in Northampton of the Bothwell Church war- 
ranted the estabhshment of a second church on an 
absolutely Independent or Congregational basis. This 
second church became in time the church now wor- 
shipping at College- street. Some people, however, 
objected to its "mixed communion," and a third dis- 
senting church, a body of " Strict Baptists," was 
founded. They met m a chapel on the Green. 
Whether ttiere was a dissenting church at Northamp- 
ton in 1662, the year of the Act of Uraformity, cannot 
now be said; but it is known that ejected ministers 
began at once to preach in barns and private bouses. 
To erect a chapel w€w out of the question; that 
would mean instant extermination. Northampton Non- 
conformists, however, were influential, and many of 
them were well-to-do. There was not that hostility 
from the populace that was experienced in other 
places. The common informer kept away from the 
town, for the people would not brook his presence. 
Whilst up and down the country Dissent was pense- 
cuted, it had more or less freedom at Northampton. 
True, preachers were put in gaol at Northampton, but 
they were not Northampton people. On the contrary, 
the Nonconformist prisoners were treated well by the 
inhabitants of the town. In a few years, in 1672, 
Charles II. conferred upon Nonconformists a full 
measure of civil and religious libertv. Charles was 
preparing the way for Bomanism; so he offered, with- 
out the consent of Parliament, religious freedom to 
all. He issued the Declaration of Indulgence, sus- 
pending all penal laws against Dissent, and directing 
preachers to apply forthwith for licences to preach so 
as to secure them against interruption ; and occupiers 
of houses to obtain other licences if they desired to 
have preaching services in them. Nonconformity did 
not, as a whole, take kindly to the Boyal proposal. 
Nonconformists were constitutionaUsts then as now: 
many did not agree with the King's usurping the 
functions of Parliament, especially in religious matters, 
for if a monarch with prcniilections Bomewards could 
take off penalties, why could he not impose fresh 
ones? Only 3,400 licences were ever asked for; they 
were granted, as a matter of course. But two North- 
ampton residents applied for preaching Ucences; and 
only five other licences for preaching places were 
asked for. The two preachers both described them- 
selves as Presbyterians, and eacih applied for permis^ 



sion to preach in his o'vm house and nowhere eke. 
One was iiichard Hooke, M.A., formerly rector of 
Creaton, from which living he was ejected in 1662. 
After preachinflf a short tune at Creaton, where he 
opened a school, he went to Northampton, re;Bidinjr in 
his own house in t-he Drapery, a building which 
stretched from the Drapery to Market- square, and 
was bounded on the South by the j^as^age way now 
known as Osborne's Jetty. He died in 1679, and was 
buried in St. Peter's GSiuroh, Which in his lifetime he 
frequently attended. The other was John Harding, 
who died in 1690, and was also buried in St. Peter*s 
Church. He is described on his memorial stone there 
as "Minister of Jesus Christ." Three of the other 
five licensed meeting houses were also Pre»byterian. 
The remaining two were for Congresrationalists. They 
were the house and the bam of Robert Marley, 
Marsey, or Massey. Massey was a lawyer. Samuel 
Wolford, or Welford, whose house was licensed for 
Presbyterian teaching, was a member of Castle Hill 
Church. This Church, afterwards known as Castle 
Hill, was nursed into vifirorous youth in one or more 
or all of tlhe five licensed Presbyterian preaching 
places — Samuel Welford's own residence, Bichard 
Hooke's large house in the Drapery ; John Harding's 
residence, where he himself preached; and Valentme 
Ohaddock and Jofhn Clarke's dweUing[s. For the 
Church whose history we are considenng was Pres- 
byterian in its origin and early existence. It would 
have no deaUngs with the members of Mr. Davis's 
Church at Rothwell, nor with the offshoot (College 
Street) then meeting in Bobert Mar ley's barn, and 
afterwards at Lady Fermor's house m the South 
Quarter. These two Churches, being absolutely Con- 
gregational, were not regarded as in Gospel Order by 
rae Presbyterians, who were much more closely alHed 
with the Established Church. 

The "Indulgence" of Charles 11. lasted only one 
^ear. In 1673 it was withdrawn. Parliament object- 
mg to it, and the Test Act was passed. Theii came 
a time of trouble for Dissent even in liberal North- 
ampton. 

It was just at this time that the Rev. Samuel 
Blower, the first known pastor of Castle Hill Church, 
commenced his ministry in Northampton. The Bev. 
Norman Glass says, apparently without any evidence, 
that he formed the church in 1662, or thereabouts; 
but nothing whatever is known of the circumstances 
under which he began his pastorate. He was a man 
of considerable learning, and by the Act of Uniformity 
had been turned out of the Fellowship of Magdalen 
College, Oxford; and was afterwards silenced at 
Woodstock, where he held the living. He left Wood- 
stock for Northampton, where, either in 1674^ or early 
in 1675, he was chosen pastor of the Presbjierian 
Church. Calamy says of him: — 

He was of a meek temper, peaceable principles, 
and a godly hfe. He had, like St. Austin, very 
exalted thoughts of Divine Grace and Bedeeming 
Love. He discovered a very tender regard to young 
persons, and would often address himself very 
affectionately towards them, not only in his sermons, 
but in his visits, and rejoiced much in their hope- 
fulness. He affected not a pompous way of preach- 
ing, nor did he dispense the truths of the gospel with 



"the wisdom of man's words," knowing that was 
not 80 likely to be attended with a Divine blessing. 
Scrdpture revek^tion, in Scripture language, was ihe 
main subject of Ms discourses. He was very de- 
sirable as a friend, being free and communicative, 
candid in the last degree, of a very aympafchising 
spirit with those in affliction, and particularly mind- 
ful of them in ihis prayers. Ana he wfl« «o firm 
and constant, where he professed friendship, that 
it must be some very ill thing indeed that was the 
occasion of his breakmg it off. Wherever he had an 
interest, he was for improving it for Grod to his ut- 
most ; and took all opportunities to do so. 
Very soon after Mr. Blower commenced his pastorate, 
Northampton suffered from the great fire of Septem- 
ber 20th, 1675. This fire commenced close to where 
Castle Hill Ohapel now stands, "in a cottage at the 
upper end of St. Mary's-«treeit." In the course of two 
hours 600 houses were destroyed, as well as the greater 
part of All Saints' Ohurch. The damage was estimated 
at from j£152,000 upwards. Dr. Conant, vicar of All 
Saints', put it at /250,000; others at a mucvh higher 
sum than that. More money was collected for the 
sufferers than was obtained, nine years before, for 
the victims of The Great Fire of London of 1666. 
Though John Harding's 'house, formerly licensed, was 
burnt down, Robert Marley's bam escaped. We know 
that Mr. Blower's church survived the disaster, and 
also the division caused by Mr. Davis, of BobhwelL 
There was something of a trial of Mr. Davis at Ket- 
tering in 1692, before the "United Ministers." The 
" meek-te'iipered, peaceable," Mr. Blower complained 
of him that he had started a church (College-street) 
at Northampton, and that he had administered the 
Lord's Supper there. Mr. Blower left Northampton 
soon after, in 1694, and went to Abingdon, in Berk- 
shire, where he died in 1701. 



THOMAS SHEPHERD 

Mr. Blower was succeeded by the Rev. Thomas 
Shepherd, originally, lake his predecessor, a clergyman 
of the Church of Sngland. The recoofid of his ooming 
to Castle Hill Church is the firat contemporary entry 
in the Church Book. It reads : 

In ye Year 1694 
This Church did upon ye departure of ye Reverend 
M^. Blower their former Pastour give their Unani- 
mous call to Thomas Shepard to succeed him in 
ye Pastorall Office who thereupon acceptimg ye Call 
did actually succeed him in ye office aforesaid. 

Mr. Shepherd was the son of the Rev. William Shep- 
herd, a liberal minded rector of Tillbrook, Bedford- 
shire, who, for the sake of quietness, oonfanned in 1662. 
But he found that all was not peace, and though he 
did much good in his parish, he was impelled by those 
who saw that his comformity was not of the heart, 
to give up the living. He became minister of the Inde- 
pendent Church at Oundle, where he too complained 
of Davis, the BothweU missioner. He subsequently 
became pastor at Kettering, where he died in 1688. 
The son partook of maTiy of the qualities of the father. 
He had a striking and powerful delivery, a lively and 



healthy imagfiiation, and a distinotly British dogged- 
ness of disposition that made him a <ttioni in the side 
of poor old Thomas Barlow, Bishop of libooln. In later 
life he engaged in a pamphOiet camfcroversy on hlis own 
bon& fides ; and it is from the books he and his opponents 
issued that we learn almost all thai is known of him. 
After a University educattion he was at an early a^ 
instituted to the liv^ing' of S*. New**. It is ceiptam 
that the Bishop found much fault with hisn during the 
two years and a half he wias ithere. Mr. She^erd 
put H down to the Bishop not desiring to hare the 
truth preached io the multitude as Shepherd seemed 
«to he doing with consjderahle isuccess. The enmity 
of the Bishop was a burden to Shephierd, And after 
some painful interviews with his diocesem he gladly left 
St. Neots for Haversham, in Buckingham^ire, in another 
diocese. At Haveraham he was almost as awkwardly 
situated as at St. Neots, getting into trouUe with the 
Bishop. Perhaps the cause of dt all was that Sbepfaerd 
at heart could not enduro d^ricel domination. After 
two years aind a half at Haversham he left the Church. 
As a matter of fact, he never was a C(»fonnis4> at 
heart, though when at St. Neofts he declined th« invita* 
tion of '*a Dissenting Congregation at Stamlord." He 
/tells us t^at he took his Ordfnatiioa Oath wofch resenra- 
tiona— sudi reservations, he pleaded, as were customary. 
In obe of his conipoveraial paimphlets he minutely de- 
scribes his own practice in the Church. When he read 
the prayers, whioh was not loften, he emplVoyin|^ a 
"reader" for that purpose, he was tn tWe habot of 
omitting portiosis. He writes : " Some smail Passages 
I sometimes did pass by, or alter, as for instance in 
the Thanksgiving, When I waa in Doubt about my bwn 
Eternal State, I oft pass'd by the Word Creation." 
Other examples are more in accord 'wiitfa the objeoHcms 
of Nonconformist miniaters: "So in the Office for 
Baptism, instead of these Word^s, This GhiM is Begener- 
ate and Born again ; I would Bead, This OhiM is reoeiv'd 
into the Bosom of the Church : In the office for Burial, 
flostead of these Words, In aure and certain Hope of 
ithe Besurrection to Eternal Life; I Bead. In sure and 
certain Expectation of a Besurrection to a Future State ; 
and many such |3ce.'' 

Leaving Haversham, he probably went to Oxvndile to 
his father, and thence to Northampton. He left the 
Church oif England about <the beginning of 1694; in 
which year we fiind hdm at Cbstle Hill Chapel, ut the 
age of about 29. He was already known as the author 
of " Penitential Cries," a series of 32 hymns lust pub- 
lished. He found at Northampton a vigorous churdi, 
and he soon left it. He seems to have insisted on the 
Church Covenant being read amd si^ed by all mem- 
bers; the second entry in the Church "Bock reading: 
The Form of ye Church Covenant. 
We this Oiurch of Christ whose names are under- 
written, having given up ourselves to ye Lord and 
one to An other according to ye Will of God, do 
promise and Covenant in ye presence of God, to walk 
together in all ye Laws and Ordinamces of Ohriist 
according to ye Bules of his Gospdll thro* Jesus Christ 
so strengthening us. 

'Mr. Shepherd evidently had peculiar xntions of the 
relationship of Church to paator. He wrote in the 



10 

book, iflterMtiiig only beoaase of the sequel, tibe 
followmg: — 

1694. 
MeMorand. yt Thomas Shepherd acceptiing yo Oall 
thig Church gave him, did own & decla^ his 
willingness ft consent to walk with them as a pastor 
with his people; so long as we coulid walk com- 
fortably together in all ye ways k Ordinances of 
ye Lord. 

Early in the following year the ereotion of the 
present chapel was decided upon. A small piece of 

S round on " Oestte Hill^s '' was, we learn from, the 
er. Thomas Arnold, purcSiased from Mary Warner, 
the graaddanglrter of a Thomas Thornton, under whose 
will Sihe inherited the property. Thornton's wiQl was 
made in 1660. The deed by which the land was con- 
▼eyed to the chapel representatires is dated May 3rd, 
1606, and it states that two tenements formerly there- 
on " were demolished and burnt down by a sudden fire 
whidh lately happened there, the ground on w^hich ithe 
same stood Jiaving ever since Mn waste and yielded 
none or y&ry liUle profit." This seems to hare been 
nob the great fire of 1675, bub a subsequent outbreak 
that burnt the two cottages alone. Considerable pro- 
gress was made with the building, and the dhapel 
was completed before tiie following winter. During 
the two hundred years since then, the humble erection 
then built has been considerably altered and enlarged ; 
but it is 'the same building, inasmuch as some of the 
old walls remain walls of the chapel to-day. From 
people who knew the chapel in ]>oadridge's time, be- 
fore it was materially altered from its &rst state, the 
following description of the building has been com- 
piled: 

The meetinff-ihouse is said to have been built of 
stones fetdhed from the shattered castle and town 
walls. It had a look of quiet respectable ugliness 
that ukight have defied competition; for it seemed 
to have been reared by a bdiever in the rule, ''He 
who was born in a manger s'hould be preadhed in a 
bam." It stood in tihe midst of green sraves and 
iscnlptured stones, which time had powdered with 
orange and isilver. Elms and Scotch firs shadowed 
it. On the walls were sepulchral tablets, a little 
pent roof shelved over each door, all tIhe windows 
above and below were sSiuttered outside — a precau- 
tion which ancient mobs made needful— and in front, 
over one of them, was a sundial, with the motto, 
"Post est Occasio calva. 1605." Now note the in- 
terior. Space for about seven hundred persons. 
Boof propped up by two great wihite wooden pillars, 
one a little bandy— the "Jaohin" and "Boaz" of 
the temple. White galleries, clumisy wtdte pulpit, 
a great sounding-board over it. Big'ht and left of 
it, fflazed with smaU, gray-green pines, two tall 
windows of the lattice kind. Straight before the 
pulpit, a long, massive communkm-table ; and over 
this table, on a chain that dangled from the rafters, 
a mighty brass branched candlestick. AH the pews 
near the walls were deep and square. There were 
no lobbies. You went up the gallery steps in the 
sight of all Israel; and ithe doors opened right into 
ihd graveyard, grassy, still, and peaceful. Within 
and without, everything was marked by stark plain- 



11 

lliei openings of the chapel, the first servioeB, the taly 
sermons, all must be passed oyer in silence, for of them 
nothing has come down to us. But we do know ttiat 
within about twelve months of the opeoiinff Mr. Shep- 
herd found reason. to differ from his pecpld at North- 
ampton as he had found causes of quarrel u his previous 
ministries. He wrote in the church book, under date 
September Uth, 1696, that at the church meetinflr that 
day, "it was publickly owned by this Church, yt Thomas 
Shepherd, their present Pastor, wa« not under obligation 
to a Continuance with them, by vertue of any Conditional 
Consent or promise made ui>on Setting down" ; and he 
added, " Ye Condition not being observed by this people, 
my engagement to ym ihereupon must needs cease.*' 
So he leit them. The following year he preached as a 
probationer to a Presbyterian congregation assembling 
m Poor Jewry-lane (now Old Jewry), Aldgate. By a 
majority of one vote he was elected pastor, " but through 
some dishonourable practices'^ the election was over- 
ruled. Probably it was well for him that it was so, 
for three years later he found a congenial home ac 
Booking (Braintree), Essex, where he was minister 
for nearly 39 years. He died there on January 29th, 
1739, aged 73 ; and a stone still marks his grave. Be- 
sides his controversial works, Mr. Shepherd published 
both sermons and hymns. The sermons bave been 
forgotten : thev deal with angels, devils and distempers, 
conversion and other subjects. The following question 
and answer with which Mr. Shepherd ended his sermon 
on devils is extremely interesting. He had arqfued thaitt 
Satan in these days has power over the bodies of men. 
Then comes the question : 

•* When shall we conclude this the case ?*' 

He supplies the answer: 

"When natural causes discover nothing; Nature 
continues in its strength, the Body no way disorganized, 
and yet Means are very strangely and unaccountably 
beaten back; then we may suspect something' prseter- 
natural. Then He called his Twelve Disciples tc^ether, 
and gave 'em Power and Authority over all Devils, and 
to cure Diseases. I observe they cou'd not cure Diseases, 
if they could not cast out Devils: All Devils, for some 
it seems are stronger, and more stubborn than others 
(as 'tis with sinful Men). For a Confirmation of this 
Particular, and a Close of the whole, I add only this Text 
more, Mark 9, 29. This kind of Devils can come forth 
by nothing (not by Physick) but by Prayer and Fasting." 

Some of Shepherd's hymns are still remembered. 
His " Spiritual Songs " eclipsed his " Penitential Cries." 
They were the work of a maturer mind. These **Songs" 
were in some way written in conjunction with the well- 
known hymn writer, John Mason. Only six, however, 
appear to be Mason's ; the rest are Shepherd's, including 
the exquisitely beautiful one commencing: 
Alas, my Grod, that we should be. 
Such strangers to each other ! 
O, that as friends we mieht agree, . 
And walk and talk together ! 

Mr. Shepherd has been characterised as "an i-x- 
cellent puritanical man." No other author nrobably 
continued the puritanical style of writing to ro Isto a 
period. By adhering to this school of thought he avoided 
the common dullness of the pamphlet and eermon 
writers of the day ; and his works are ell of consider- 
able (merit, some of them, indeed, being rich in un- 
expected and strikdng turns of thought. 



1!^ 



JOHN HUNT. 
The Bev. John Hant sacceeded Mr. Shepherd. He 
was, like his predecessor, a man of earnest piety, «ad 
strongly controversial. He, too, engaged in a printed 
warfare, apparently not of his own seeking. One 
minister hurled at him a mighty tome of 900 pages; 
and two other writers, at least, took him to task. 
This was daring his pastorate of Castle Hill. The 
centre of Dissentins^ life was at this time shifting to 
the Midlands, which, as the home of intelligent Non- 
conformity, was to reach its highest pinnacle in the 
time of Dr. Doddridge and his mmiediate successors. 
Northampton, indeed, was performing a great part in 
the history of modem Nonconformity. The Bey. 
Samuel Blower had, by his enlightened preaching, 
caused the town to become a place of intellectual and 
spiritual life. The good John Moore, the first great 
minister of College-street Chapel, added his influence; 
and John Hunt continued the glorious work. North- 
ampton was still a Nonconformist town, and people 
began to think it as great a service to attack the 
" heretics " there, as others have in much later days. 
The father of the Bev. John Hunt, ejected from the 
vicarage of Sutton, in Cambridgeshire, in 1662, was 
a man of exemplary j^iety and usefulness. His two 
sons were both Dissentmg ministers, and both partook 
of his character. John first became pastor of the 
Dissenting cause of Boyston, Cambridgeshire; and 
next of Castle Hill, Northaxxipton. He ** embraced ye 
Call " on February 25th, 1699 (in the Church Book it 
is, of course, 1698, in accordance with the unreformed 
calendar). What the Church had been doing during 
the two years and more since Mr. Shepherd left no one 
can say. Probably it had many supplies, and some 
came "with a view"; but, as can oe seen by the 
recently pulbliehed " History of College Street Chapel,"* 
this was a period of trouble in Nonconformist con- 
gregations. Men were bent on discovering error, and 
schism, and heresy in others. People called one 
another hard names because of the minutest shades of 
difference in religion; and because of the smallest 
doubts on matters that now a days are considered 
either of trifling importance or of none at all. There 
were Calvinists and Supralapsarians, Antipsedobf^tists, 
Paedobaptists, and Anabaptists; Arians, Armmians, 
and Antinomians ; Sabellians and Socinians ; and many 
others. Of most men, it might be said each con- 
sidered himself alone orthodox, the rest failed in one 
point or another. How the poor churches were rent, 
unless they had a strong man in the pulpit who could, 
and did, rise above the petty differences of his con- 
gregation, and preach a wider faith and greater good 1 
Such a man was John Hunt. Everybody now-a-days 
would call such a pastor too autocratic, and tell him 
daily that a minister is one who serves, not rules. 
Whether, he was right or wrong. Castle Hill needed 
such a man then, and he tided the Church over the 
most perilous period of its existence. He ruled with 
a rod of iron, hidden, it may be, from his congrega- 
tion, but it was there nevertheless. Instead of runnmg 
off because something happened he did not like, he 
made differences the occasion of greater unity. At 
College Lane Church about this time the members 

* Taylor and Son, Dryden Press, Northampton. 




' . J 



13 

agreed ^^not to. Impose or Beflect npon one another'* 
in respect to different views on Baptism. Mr. Hunt 
took a shorter way : "It was agreed upon by this 
society that it should be left to Mr. John Hunt, our 
Pastor, to determine whom it shall be lawful for us 
to hear preachy and that it shall be judged an offence 
to the church to act contrary to his determination." 
Moreover, ■ he abolished the office of Buling Elders. 
In his "Infant's Faith and Bight to Baptism," printed 
whilst he was at Castle Hill, he explains his position : 
"It has no little concerned me," he says, "to see how 
Grenerally the Country is infected, not only with Ana- 
baptism [the doctrine of the Baptists], but also with 
those many and gross Errors, which commonly that 
Doctrine is ail inlet into; and especially with that 
Soul-dauming Error of Free-Will. . . . Since Grod 
hath set me a Watchman over this Flock, 1 think my 
self bound (as ever I hope to give up by Account with 
Joy) to take all the Care of them I can, and to do my 
utmost to reduce such as are wandering, and to 
establish such as are wavering; and to keep the 
Plague out of their Head, as well as their Hands, from 
being Defiled: Judging a Blind Eye, worse than a 
Lame Foot. Errors in Judgement are like to be an 
Inlet into continual Errors in Practice." Also while 
at Northampton he published, "The Saint's Treasurer: 
The Glory of Christ UnveiPd," printed apparently in 
1704. It was this especially that called forth the 
ponderous reply already mentioned, written by Joseph 
Hussey, "Pastour of the Congregational Church of 
Chrisi at Cambridge." What with ruling his Church, 
preaching sermons at Castle Hill, missionising in the 
villages . of Northamptonshire, and publishing books, 
Mr. Hunt had enough to do; and it is probable that 
he left Northampton for the Newport Pagnell Church 
in order to obtain some relaxation from the incessant 
work of a laborious life. During his eleven years 
ministrv at Northampton, 100 members were added 
to the Church. He left in 1709. At Newport Pagnell 
he published a volume of "Hymns and Spiritual 
Sonars," and other works. In 1725 he went to Tunstall, 
in Norfolk, where, after printing yet another book, 
"The Doctrine of God's Eternal Decrees Stated," he 
finished his earthly course in 1730. His son, the Bev. 
William Hunix, succeeded him in the pastorate at 
Newport Pagnell, and afterwards . became pastor of 
the Congregational Church at Hackney. 



THOS. TINGEY. 

The Bev. Thomas Tingey wa« the next minister at 
Cai^le Hill. He was educated at Pinner, Middlesex, 
by tlhe Bev. Thomas Goodwin, who was son of Dr. 
Thomas Goodwin, President of Magdalen College, 
Oxfbrd, an intimate friend of OKver Oomwell. His 
first charge was that of the Dissenting congregation 
at Newport Pagnell, of which church, at the time he 
was little more than 20 he was chosen pastor in 1700. 
He filled the office with much acceptance for nearly 
nine years, when he effected a change of churches 
with the Bev. John Hunt. In the Qiurch Book of 
Castle Hill, amid the meagre records of the time, is 
the following entry of February 22nd, 1709: 

The Church having before invited &; called ye 

Bevd M!r Tho. Tingey to take upon him ye 



14 

pastoral! care of their Soti1« ft after ye remoral <A 
ye Beverend Mr Jno Hunt brought ye ftaid Bevd 
Mr Tho Tingey ft his family to Northampton did 
after diverse repeated OaUs ft davs ft times of 
seeking God ye day above written solemnly ft miani- 
mously review their Call at which time ye fd 
Bevd Mr Tho Tingey gave his acoeptaaoe there of 
together with ye reasons of it ft wa« Solemnly or- 
dained unto ye Pastoral office ft charge, d This 
Church of Christ. The Beverend Mr Peter Dowlay 
of Litterworth ye Bevd Mr Jno Bang of Welling- 



borow, ye Bevd Mr David Some of Harborow, yd 
Bevd Mr Jno Norris of Welford, ye Bevd Mr 
Jno Ironmonger of Buckingham, ye Bevd Mr I 
JacksoQ of Buckby, ye Bevd Mr Jno Mason of 
Spaldwich, ye Bevd Mr Jno Wills about to settle 
at Kettering, ft ye Bevd Mr Dale of Creton 

being present. 

Mr. Tingey was not a controversialist, as his pre* 
decessors had been. His religion was an affair of ths 
heart; and his preaching wes earnest, warm, and 
sympathetic. "He spoke with great correctness and 
flow of affection, and always treated on the most 
useful and important subjects. The doctrine of justi* 
fication by the imputed righteousness of Christ he 
insisted upon much. He wus very diesirous of 
preaching the gospel upon all occasions, whenever any 
serious christians were disposed to attend; and he 
laboured beyond his strength, it is thouffbt, to the 
prejudice of his constitution. He emftiTaoed every op« 
portunity of preaching the gospel in places that were 
dofttitate of it. His private character wns equally 
amiable, and a uniform piety sihone through &e whole 
of his conversation." Those are the words of one who 
personally knew him. 

We know little of CasUe Hill Church during his 
ministry save that "it prospered in numbers, piety; 
and seal." Mr. Tingey, like Mr. Hunt, preached much 
in conntrv districts, as well as at Northampton, and, 
says >hds mend Dr. Bidgley, " 'Tis amasing to consider 
what double, yea, I may say triple, service be went 
through every Lord's day, besides his labouiw on 
other days, whioh were very frequent." In more or 
less accord with t'he prophesying d a younff female 
seer, afterwards discovered bv Dr. Doddridge, Mr. 
Tingey left Northampton, and very soon died. He 
resigned the pastorate about the end of 1726, and on 
February 23rd, 1729, became pastor of a London 
Chnrdh. The "Northampton Mercury" tells us that ' 
on March 5th, " One Mr. Tingey, a noted Independent 
Preacher, from Northampton, was ordained at the 
Meeting House in Fetter-Lane (late Mr. Bradbury's) 
by Dr. Oalamy, Dr. Watts, Mr. Brice, and others, 
according to the Custom of People of that Perswasion, 
who allow of no Ordination but to a particular Con- 
gregation." Already his constitution was enfeebled, 
and he ^as soon attacked by a severe iUnees, from 
which he died at his residence, Bangor Court, Shoe 
Lane, on November 1st, the same year. His body was 
conveyed, " in great Funeral Pomp and Solemnity," to 
BunhiU Fields Cemetery, where it was interred. 
During his short residence in London he established 
in Silver-street "a catechetical lecture for promoting 
the benefit of the rising generation." The trust deed of 
Castle HiU (then caUed "Castle Hills") Church wus 
executed during Mr. Tingey*s pastorate. There were 



15 



nineteen original tnutees, of wbom Mr. Trngev is the 
first named. Mr. Tingey'g son, the Resv. Thomas 
Tingey, was Independent minister at Becdes. 



PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

Pliil^ Doddridge accepted the call of the dharch io 
become its pa«tor on December 6th, 1729, when 27 
years of age. He was bom on Jtme 2nd, 1702, in 
Ifondon. His father was a tradesman, generaUy called 
an oilman to heighiten the comparison between him 
and his distinguished son, but he was really in a 
good way of business, tihough the family 'had been 
coming down in the world. The family came from 
Devonshire, whwe Doddridge's ancestry has been 
traced back for five venerations and suspected for 20 
iDore. John Doddridge, one of the judges who re- 
fused bail to Hampden; John Doddridge, M.P. for 
Barnstaple in the Long Parliament; John Doddridge, 
an ejected minister; Daniel Doddridge the oilman, 
and P-hflip Doddridge, bis orother, a solicitor; were 
all descendants of a Devons'hire gentleman of (][ua]ity, 
w4k>, in the time of EtisAbeth, settled with his chil- 
di«n at Barnstaple. Philip Doddridge's mother was 
the daughter of John Bauman, a Lutheran student, 
w^o fled to London for oonecience sake, and started a 
edhool at Kingston-on-Thames. His only daughter, 
married Daniel Doddridge, and proved so g^>d a 
wife that Philip, the future pastor, was the twentieth 
child. Philip was a weak little mortal: at first it 
was thought the babe was dead, '' but after a while, 
a servant, noticing a sigh, took pains with the slight 
rudimentary tUng, and at leng>th fostered it into life." 
Under the patient tuition of a mother's love, Philip 
increased in wisdom and in stature. She told him 
Bible stories illustrative of the scriptural pictures on 
the Dutch tiles of the fire-place; and she piously 
taught him to reverence thie Bible her father had 
brought with him to England, and to love its words 
and heed its teachings. Such tiles even now exist in 
fireplaces in '^OromweU House," Marefair, North- 
ampton. As he grew older, Philip had a tutor, 
who visited the iiouse tto give hmi lessons, and 
at ten years of affe he was sent to the school at 
Kingston that his deceased grandfather had founded. 
The master was Daniel Mayo, the son of an ejected 
minister. Doddridge was a good boy at school. His 
well-earned holidays were regularly enjoyed at his 
uncle's, the solicitor, and at these times **he was 
kindly noticed by the Duchess of Bedford when he was 
hailed as a sprightly playfellow by the children of the 
Bussel family, and some of them became his fast 
friends for life." Doddridge lost both his father and 
mother by the time he was thirteen. The death of 
his father caused him to write in his diary, which he 
had even then begun to keep: 

Qod is an immortal Father, my soul rejoiceth in 
Him; He hatii hitherto helped me; may it be my 
duty to approve myself a more affectionate, grate- 
ful, and dutiful child. 

'*A prosperous-looking gentleman," no one asking 
him, assumed the guan&anship of the orphan lad, and 
remoyed him to a dchool at St. Albans kept by 



16 

Dr. Nathaniel Wood. Mr. Wood was a Nonconformist, 
and like many another in those times, filled the dnal 
office o-f pastor and tutor. He was an able «cholar 
and a strict disciplinarian. Under his tuition Ph.ilip 
learned mudh. The Eev. Samuel Olark, Presbyterian 
minister at St. Albans, became a second father to tha 
l-ad, and young Doddridge joined this ehurcih on 
January 1st, 1719. "This was jsuddenly followed by 
a calamity. Mr. Downes, the self-^on-stdtuted euar- 
dian, was full of kind feeling; h^e was impiusiye, 
effusive, persuasive, and wa« marked by lively alacrity 
of benevolence : but for all that he was never con- 
sidered in the city to be * a sale man.* All at once 
there was a collapse in his affairs; he lost the pro- 
perty of his wards as well as Ihis own in some unsuc- 
cessful venture, and was thrown into prison for debt. 
To get him out of prison, Philip Doddridge sold his 
own family plate. Then, in better spirits than ever, 
the emancipated man busied Obimseif in various specu- 
lations, but the only effect of hig enthusiasm that we 
now know was the total wreck of what little had been 
left of the Doddridge iniheidtance." Philip at once left 
school and went to Hve with the Bev. John Nettleton, 
who had just married Doddridge's sister, the only one 
of his 19 brothers and sisters who grew up. Mr. 
Nettleton was keeping school on Hampstead Heath. 
Doddridge wanted to became a minister. The Duchess 
of Bedford offered to send him to either of the Uni« 
versities, and give him e good living afterwards, if he 
would enter the Church of England. He declined, and 
applied to Calamy, who advised him to turn to some 
secular occupation. Next he. got a fine offer to enter 
the law. In the midst of his perplexity, when in th-e 
very act of praying for guidance on this matter, the 
postman brought him a letter from the Rev. John Clark, 
offering him a home at St. Albans. This was regarded 
by Doddridge as a direct answer to his prayer. H)b 
accepted the offer, went to St. Albans for a few months, 
and then, in October of the same year (1719) was sent 
to tlie academy of the Rev. John Jiennings, at Kibwopfch 
Harcourt, near Mjarket Harborough, Leicestershire. Mr. 
Jennings was an Independent minister of rare attau- 
ments and delicate culture. A few of his students, in- 
cluding Doddridge, were aided by grants from the 
Presbyterian Fund. Other small grants reduced the 
burden of expense, which fell on his patron, the Bev. 
Samuel Clark, to about £S5. a year. This Doddridge 
seems to have ultimately repaid. 

Doddridge gives in his voluminous correspondence 
some very interesting details of the course of study 
at Kibworth. The spirit of the academy was decidedly 
liberal. Mr. Jennings encouraged, says Doddridge. 
" the greatest freedom of enquiry," and was not wedded 
to a system of doctrine, but wbs " sometimes a Cal- 
vmist, sometimes a remonstrant, sometimes a Baxterian, 
and sometimes a Socinian, as truth and evidence deter- 
mined him." As a student, Doddridge was diligent 
and conscientious over his duties; he gained a wide 
acquaintance with the praofcical outfit of a tutor and 
preacher; but curiously he showed no turn for re^ 
search. Too much of his time was occupied in writing 
Platonic love letters to a number of young ladies 
He was of an interesting age, he had an interesting 
history, and he was flattered with the attentions shown 
him. In acknowledgment he wote letters to all and sun- 
dry. He had a remarkable facility of expression. From 



17 

the age of 14 he had beeb conyersant with shorthaiid, he 
loved writing, and these letters probably did no harm, 
but they did him much ^ood. They assisted in forming 
a correct style of wriitmg of the greatest advantage 
to ilmn in After Hfe. A numiber of tihese letters still 
exist : after hi« death they were always turning np in 
the pages of some newspaper or ma^isine — ^letters to 
young ladies he addressed as " Dear Mamma," "Clio," 
"Aunt," "Philomela," and so on; letters to young 
ladies on all manner of subjects, and sometimes very 
preachy letters they were ; letter to one who was going 
abroad ; letter to another who had broken her leg ; and 
a letter to a third who was opening a school, desiring 
her to pick out one of her pupils she deemed suitable 
and educate her with the express end in view of being 
a tit wife for Philip Doddridge ! 

The academy was removed to Hfnckley, " the second 
largest town m Leicestershire," in July, 1722, and an 
tibe 22nd of that month Doddridige delivered his first 
public sermon. This was in tihe oW meeting house 
at Hinckley, taken down later in the same year. The 
text was: 

If any man love not the I/ord Jesuis Ohid«t^ let him 

be anathema Maran-atha. I. Corinthians xvi., 22. 

On January 25th, 1723, he passed an examination 
before three ministers qualifying him for a certificate 
of approbation as a minister from the County Meet- 
ing in Miay. Having no money, and being dependent 
on Mr. Clark, he was anxious to obtain a settlement 
as early as possible ; and in June he accepted the pasted*- 
ate of the church at Kibworth, where the congrega- 
tion numbered about 150, and the stipemd was ^^35 a 
year. Almost simultaneously he was sought by the 
Presbyterian Church at Coventry., "one of the largest 
Dissenting congregations in' England," as assistant 
pastor to the I^v. John Wainren. Doddridge declined 
because the invitation was not unandmous, Warren and 
some of the members favouring someone else. A split 
in the church ensued, and the seoeders erepted a new 
chapel and invited Doddridge to become its first pastor. 
This also he declined. Overtures for ham to become 
■tiieir nunister came from tihe Dissenting church at 
Pershore, Worcestershire, and from the Church meet- 
ing at Haberdashers' Hall, London. He declined both, 
the Worcestershire one because they were " a very 
rigid sort of people." While minister at Kibworth, 
Doddridge lo<}ged a short time with a family named 
Perkins, «t Little Stretford; and for a longer period 
at Burton Overy, witli a famdly named Freeman, rela- 
ted to William Tong, of Ooventry, who charged 
Doddnidge with " some levities " which were never de- 
fined. The daughter of the house at Burton Overy, 
"Kitty" Freeman^ the owner of the "one hoop- 
peticoat" in his "whok diocese," soon captivated tiie 
young preacher's heart. The motherly warnings of his 
sister were met with the query "Did you ever know 
nie to marry foolishly in my life?" "Kitty" was a 
flirt, and in the end discarded him. In less than two 
years Doddridge wrote a propoaatt to Jane Jennings, the 
daughter of his tutor, thien fifteen years of age. 
Doddiwlge was then all but 28; so ihe disparity of 
their ages was not so remarkable as the youth of the 
lady seems to-day to suggest. But Doddnidge had the 
notions of the weaKhy : and it was not an uncommion 
thing in the first half of the eighteenth centaury for 



aitistooTfttk and profosskHnl nMn to-mopry giTi« of a 
macb more tender «g^e than 15 or 16. Thirteen and 
forarteen wene not uncoxnznon ogeA, twelve -waA not rare. 
The marriage, however, waa invaffdably regarded mereAy 
aa a bkiding of the bargain; and Uie diild-mfe re- 
mained -with Iher parents or at school for aome years 
longer before joining faer boaband. Notibifng oame of 
the proposal: Jenny Jennings married someooe elae, 
and 'became tlie mother of it£e famoiu aatthoresa, Mrs. 
Barbanld, and of Dr. Aiken. 

In October, 1725, Doddridge removed hia residence 
from ]B[ibworMi to Market Harborongh, where ins 
friend the Bev. David Some wa« minister. By ar- 
rangement with their two Churchea, the friencb en- 
tered into a joint pastorate of Hai^rough and Bab- 
worth. In August, 1727, Doddridss declined! an 
invitation to the pulpit of Bradfield; Noifolk; cmd in 
Decem.ber of the same year he refused a similar offer 
from the Presb^erian congrejgation in New Court, 
Care^ Street, Lincoln's Jsisi Fields. A year later be 
waa invited by the Independent Church at Caatle Gate, 
Nottingham, and went there to preacih. While at 
Nottingham the Presbyteirian Church on High Pave- 
ment in the same town offered him an assistant pas- 
torate. He refused both offers; among the Independ- 
ents there waa too much *^hi^h orfchodoxv," and the 
Predbyteriana were ^'broken mto parties." All thi« 
time there was felt the growing need of a liberal evan- 
gelical academy in the Midlands, for that at Market 
Harborough had been closed since the death of Mr. 
Jennin^, in July, 1723. The Derbyahire Academy, 
under Ebenezer Latham, M.D., waia favoured by the 
Pres4>yterian Board, hut it did not meet the wants of 
the time. Jennings, who waa cut off in the prime <rf 
life, had looked to Doddridge, it was known, aa likelv 
to take up his work. An account of Jenninga*s methoo, 
drawn up by Doddridge, was submitted to Dr. Isaac 
Watts, who replied that the acheme might safely be 
entrusted' to him who had '^ao admirahfy described" 
it. In April, 1729, at a miniater's meeting at Lutter- 
worth, David Some suggeated the establiahment of 
an academy at Market Harborough. This was unani- 
mously endorsed Iby the ministers, who, in like 
manner, expressed the opinion that young Philip 
Doddlridge erhould be the tutor. No time was lost, 
and the academy was opened at the beginning of July 
with three divimty atudeots and some otheia. 

In a few months, however, the academy waa re- 
moved to Northampton. Doddridge, after the death 
of Mr. Tingey, preached at Caatle HiU on two or 
three Sundays, merely aa a supply, not ** with a view.'' 
On September 28th, leaa than three months alter the 
opening of the aoademy at Harborough, he waa aaked 
to preadh at Northampton for four Sundays. Thia he 
declined. Then a fuller offer was made: the Church 
invited him to become pastor. Mr. Some opposed the 
change, and came over to Northampton to tell the 
people 00. But he was ahnoat converted to it by his 
visit. He sent Doddridge to Castle Hill agam to 
preach once more and give a final ^* No." Befuaal the 
good people of Northan^>ton would not hear ; and first 
Doddridige, then Mr. Some, and then the neighbour- 
ing ministers, altered their opinions, and Doddridge 
came. The new pastor ahall himself tell the tale, ne 
wrote in the Church Book : 



19 

After repeated Solidtations lon^ DeliibeiH^ii ft 
earnest Prayer to God for Direction I came to a 
Besolntion to accept the Invitation of my Dear ft 
most affectionate Friends at NoFtbaznptoni on Satar« 
day Dec. 6th 1729 ft certified the Uhnrch of that 
Besolntion hy a Letter that "Evemag. I remored from 
Haitbononffh ft came to fettle here on Wedne8<lay 
Dec. 2A. 

On Thursday, March 19, 1729 [this according to 
our present dating, should be 1730], I waa solemnly 
set wart to the Pastoral Office by Prayer ft Fa«t- 
mg ft Imposition of hands. Mr. Goodrich began 
•with prayer and reading Eph. iv., Mr. Dawson prayciil, 
then Mr. Watson preached from I. Tim., iii., 1: If 
any mgax desire the office of Bishop he desires a Qood 
work. Mr. Nofrris then read the call of the Church, 
of which I declared my Acceptance. He took my 
Confession of faith ft Ordination Vows, ft then 
proceeded to set me apart by Pimyer. Imm-ediateiy 
afterwards Mr. CTark, of St. Albans, gave ye dbeffge 
to me, ft Mr. Saunders, of Kettering, the Exhorta- 
tion to the People, ft Mr. Mattock concluded the 
whole •olamnity with Prayer. It was a Delightful, 
asyd I hope it will prove a viery profirtaUe Day. I 
write this Memorandum of dit imdier ithe Bemacnders of 
a painful ft threatening Illness which detained m« 
from my publiok work the 2 ensuing Sabbaths. 
The letter of invitation and the letter conveying Dod- 
dridge's acceptance ore both preserved in the veitry of 
the chapeL 

When Doddlri^ge readiled Northampton, the weather 
and the wonry nrade him ill. He stayed at the honae 
of -some fnend! for three weekks, and then on January 
13th, 1730, ''set up hooseikeeping.'' Fire of the eight 
ministers .signing the oertaficflte of his Ordnnation were 
Presbyterians. The certificate aays that ''Mr. Philip 
Doddridge, of Northampton," desiring to 'be " ordfuned 
a presbyter," was «et apart to tib office of the mdnistry. 
The academy was, of course, removed to North- 
ampton, and within twelve months Doddridge married 
Mercy Maris, a young orphan lady he fell head over 
ears m love with when he first saw her in July. The 
wedding took place at Upton-on- Severn, in Worcester- 
ihire, on December 22nd, 1730. Doddridge's stipend 
at that time was ;^70 a year. Each student who 
Hved in the house paid £ib a year board, 'and £A for 
tuition, with extras, one guinea for a .study, one 
guinea for sheets (unless ibe brought his bed^hoets 
and pillowcases with (him), one guinea for eub- 
«criptHni to library, etc. Money was worth 
ttiore in those days. When ten years later Dod- 
drid^ moved into She«>- street (the whereabouts 
of ms first house is unknown) to the large place 
opposite the Bam, the rent he paid for that great 
bmiding was only £^0 a year. The house was formerly 
the Northampton residence of the *Earl of Halifax, 
whose country house was at Horton. It is now 
occupied by Mr. Francis Tonaley, Mr. March, Mr. H. 
G. Walker, and others. The wages of the «even servants 
kept by Mr. and Mrs. Doddridge amounted onlv to 
j^20 a year the lot, and mutton and beef were from 
2Jd. to 3d. per pound. 

But to return, Doddridge, having married, settled 
down to work ; and he laid down some stringent rules 
tor his own observation. 2!s a preacher he at once 



20 

won the frtffections of his congregation, a large one in 
those days, the church membership nmnberinff 542. 
*<I have now had the honour of bemg. employed as a 
preacher of the Gospel for more than ten years/' he 
wrote in 1733, "and I can truly say it was never the 
design of any sermon, or sentence, or clause, or word, 
delivered by me from ithe pulpit, ito influence the 
passions of my auditors against their fellow-christians 
on account of any difference of opinion, discipline, or 
form of worship consistent with real practical re- 
ligion. On the contrary, I have sincerely endeavoured, 
by the whole strain of my preaching and prayers, to 
promote the most candid and generous sentiments, 
and to recommend and cultivate peace and love to 
all who, under the most different forms of pro- 
fession, do in any place call upon the name of Jesus, 
our Lord and theirs." This is about as true a 
description of his preaching that any man could give 
of his own works. There have been controversies 
over Doddridge's orthodoxy, and into those we do not 
propose to enter. Those were times when< men mfigni- 
fied the smallest differences into rank heresies. Dod- 
dridge's fault in the eyes of the critical was that he 
was too libersd and too broad. He encouraged, rather 
than burked, enquiry: he sought to remove doubt or 
difficulty by meeting it fairly and intelligently. Some 
thought that their own particular views on the 
verities of the Christian religion should be forced down 
people's throats, and they grumbled accordingly. They 
even threw stones at his academy. We are accustomed 
in these days to think of the ^ood and pious and 
gentle doctor leading a pleasant life, with a contented 
and prosperous church and an academy in which 
assistants did nearly all the work, with rich and 
titled friends and acquaintances, with the sun and 
society always beaming on him. The reality was very 
different. Doddridge was delicate from his birth. 
He early lost his ^^st bom His wife was frequently 
unwell. His congregation, which gradually de- 
creased in numbers, possessed heresy hunters : the 
town many more. His church members thought 
he did not visit enough (no minister ever 
did !) His acadlemy wa;S the isource of perpetual 
anxiety, WDrry, and work ; he had to defend his itight 
to teach ; the rich people he visited were too frequently 
blafi-phemou*., the poor were too ofterti fiuvolous or 
callous. The Doctor himself grew irritable beyond his 
years, and sooight consolation in writing oesAitiful 
essays on his own thtoughts and feelings. Tlie journeys 
he took on preaohiaig excui«ion>s were JHong and arduous 
and even venturesome. All Tound he hcul a harassfng 
tome; and the worry acting upon an enfeebled con- 
fliitutdon, «oo(n broke it down. Were it not that he 
always had much to do and had no time to reflect on 
his trouibles, he would have collapsed long before. But 
he always put on a cheeitfui face: he always blessed 
Grod; and that i^ustained him. 

As •soon as the academy began to ithrive an attempt 
was made to destroy it. Dodkiridge in his village preech-> 
ins had visited Kangsthorpe, where the "Rev. Mr. 
Wills" was curate to the Rev. Richard Reynolds, D.D., 
who was Rector of Kingsthorpe and Archdeacon of 
NofPthampton. Mr. WilU wnote to Doddridge com- 
plaining of has preaching " in a certain bam " there, 
amd forbidding him to agaan tsimilarjiy trespass, as Mr. 



21 

Wills. WM ckk)D6 r^ponsible for •tbto «>irittiel vellan 
of the p&iish. Beytiolds aeems to have been a pluxalisi, 
and left eT«ryth£iig at Kingsthorpe to his curate; a 
fact which has led biographers of Doddridge to speak 
of Mr. Wills 9A. rector. Ourdoasly enough, his name 
does not appear in the Church Register, but it is af^ 
parent that he went there in 1729 and left, probably 
for a living in Somersetshire, in 1737. Doddridge re- 
plied to Mr. Walls Hike a peda^gue; and Mr. WUla 
found fault with his spellmgp. Both men lost their 
tempers, and the village clergy got angry too. A few 
weeks -later;. Dr. Reynolds, l>fr. Wills^s rector, directed 
the churchwardens of Aid Sadicts a« he was informed, 
that " the>re was a fellow in the parish who taught 
a grammar school,'' to '^ present" the teacher unless 
he held a proper licence from the Bishop. Here is the 
citation whioh waa accordingly issued and which is 
still preserved: 

To Fhilip Dotteridge of the Parish of All Saints 
in the Town of Northampton in the County of North- 
ampton Grentl. 

By virtue of a Cita/tion under seal herewith shewn 
unto you I Cite you to appear pensonally before the 
Reverend Greorge Reynolds Doctor of laws Vicar 
General Commissary General and Official Principal in 
Spiritual Matters of the Right Reverend ffather in 
Gk>d Robert by Divine Permission Lord Bishop of 
Peterborough and also Official of the Reverend the 
Archdeacon of tho Archdeaconry of Northampton or 
his lawfuU Surrogate or some other Competent Judge 
in thiia behalfe in the Con<sistory Court adjoyning 
to the Parish Church of All Saints in the same town 
of NorthauLpton on Tuesday tbe Sixth day of Novem- 
ber 1733, at the usual time of hearing Causes there 
then and there to answer to certain Articles or 
Interrogatordes to be objected and administred 
to You concerning Your Soul's health and the 
Reformation and (S)rrection of Your manners and 
excess And especially Your teaching and instruct-* 
ing Youth in the Liberal Arts and Sciences not being 
Licepsed thereto by the Ordinary of the Diocese 
touching either Your Learni'ng and Dexterity, in 
teaching or Your righit understanding of God's true 
re<lig3on or Your honest and sober Conversation at 
the promotion of aoKl pursuant to a certain Detection 
or presentment exhibited against You by Thoonas 
Band and Benjamin Chapman, Churchwardens of 
the sd parish of All Saints in the saad town of North- 
/ ampton And farther to do cuid receive according to 
Law and Justice Will Spencer 

Doddridge was promised a licence if he would apply, 
but fortified with the assistance of the London Com- 
mittee of Protestant Dissenters, he refused; and he 
carried the legal question to Westminster Hall, 
his friend, Lord Halifax, of Horton, securing for. him 
*he services of the Solicitor-General. Meanwhile a mob 
had stoned his hou«e one winter's night. On Januairy 
3l8t, 1734, the judges granted a prohibition of pro- 
ceedings, but the case was renewed in June, when 
the Archdeacon pleaded that the prohibition had been 
iliegally granted. Instead of the case being re-opened, 
the whole proceedings were -stopped by a message from 
&e King (George III.), who insisted, as he had insis- 
ted before, *^ &at dn his reign there ehould be no 



prosecatioDs for oooMsience' sake/' Thus was one feitor 
knocked off fr<mi the higher education of Nonoonform- 

Doddridge^s academy at thiB time was in Morefair, 
its location (referred to on page 19) having been dis- 
covered 'while these paees were going through the 
press. The sequence ot names in the rata book for 
1732, a sequence preserved in the books for very many 
years, shows that he lived at the house now numbered 
si, at the comer of Pike-lane and Marefair, 
in the occupation of Mr. James Mustill. Hugh 
Sharpe, a worshipper at Doddridge Cbapel, after- 
wards lived in the Marefair house and there 
resided with him Mi8*s Bachael Wingrave, a sister of 
Mrs. Jenning-s, Doddridge's <butor at Eibworth. Her 
father, a Bedfordshire magistrate, aeveral times com- 
mkted John Bunyan to prison. In more recent times 
Chancellor Wales, the vicar of All Saints', resided in 
the same house; and it was during his residence 
there that the Vicar's Bate dispute in the parish 
reached its greatest height. Doddridge, when he 
lived in the house, paid the Church Bate apparently 
without any idea of complaining. Subsequently the 
house came into the possession of Mr. Bobert Defby, 
Ohancellor Wales' great opponent in the Vicar's Bate 
controversy. 

At this time, 1730, the number of pupils in a year 
averaged about 40. The ordinary teirma of atudy 
was five years. As a rule the pupils were 
f^r LatinisAa to begin with, but Doddridga 
often complained that Greek had bean much 
neglected. *^ In the momdng,'' says Dr. Stan- 
fom in the best biography of Doddridge yet pub- 
H^ed, ^ at six in the summer, at seven in the winter, 
a beU sounded, and shortly alter, they all assembled 
in the lecture-room, when a prayer was offered up, 
after which they dispersed to tiheir several studies. 
They met agadn at famaly worship, which the doctofr 
opened by a short prayer ; after wnicih a chapter of the 
Uid Testament was read in Hebrew by tme senior, 
which he expounded oritdcally and practically ; a psalm 
was then sung, and Inhere was a closing prayer. There 
was the same order in the evening service, the only 
difference being that verses in a (»iapter of the New 
Testament were then read in rotation, sometimes in 
Greek, sometimes in Frencfh. Shortly after breakfast 
the doctor lectured to each class in order, his 
assistant at the same time being engaged in 
like manner. The main staple of the curriculum 
was a series of 250 lectures on 'The principal 
subjects in Pneumatology [called Psychology now], 
Etlucs, and Divinity.'" Besides, algebra, geometry, 
natural philosophy, civil law, and Jewish antiquities, 
were taugiht. The students were required to make 
notes in shorthand of the lectures, and write out as 
much as they could afterwards. For this reason all 
had to learn Bich's shorthand, as improved by Dodd- 
ridge. It was a system scarcely able to preserve the 
exact words, but was loaded with arbitrary signs 
representing theological words and phrases. Dodd- 
rioge's lectures to his students have been published, 
and his scheme had many merits. He took it origin- 
ally from his Eibworth tutor, the Bev. John Jennings, 
and improved it considerably. There is in the Taylor 
Collection at the Northampton Beference Library a 



28 

rare little volmne of nearly 250 pog^es, printed in two 
parts at the <* Northampton Mercury" office in 1721. 
The first part is a coarse of lessone on miscellaneous 
subjects for a school, the second part is a course of 
lesons on logic. ' The author is " J. J.'' It has been 
only recently discovered that "J. J." is Mr. John 
Jennings ; and so we have here the kernel of the 
lectures that Doddridge afterwards used with so much 
success. In all 19 subjects are treated of, Doddridge 
always beUeved in a wide acquaintance with the 
knowled^ of the time. Mr. John Jenning-« even 
in his httle book constantly refers to authorities for 
his statement«: Doddridge pre-eminently insisted on 
his students searching up authorities and reading 
them. Mr. Jennings's logic lesson« contained a num- 
ber of shorthand si^s. Many of Mr. Jennings's lec- 
tures were in Latm; it was the custom then in 
academies to lecture in Latin, but Doddridge adopted 
English, and was the chief means of breaking down 
the old plan. The rigorous enrolo^ent of sbortband 
was another innovation of Doddridge's. Long after 
his death Doddridge^s s-horthand system was first pub- 
lished. In the first edition of the book (1799) all the 
shorthand characters in every copy were laboriously 
written with the pen. 

In 1736 Doddridge was concerned in an extraordinary 
affair at Brixworth. One of his pupils, Risdon Darracott, 
a young Methodist, who became closely associated with 
the Bev. James Hervey, the rector of Weston Favell, 
and the author of *^ Meditations among the Tombs," 
went to Brixworth on October 2l8t to hold a service 
in the cottage of a poor man named William Beck. 
Before the service commenced *his " little congregation 
of Protestant Dissenters," as the "Northampton Mer- 
cury " of Monday, the 25th, described the worshippers, 
were attacked by "the Mob of the Town /"who had 
threatened, and who had begun to assault the same 
Family last Sunday)." The rowdies dashed the windows 
to pieces, threatened Darracott's life, "and actuailly 
seiz'd William Beck," who was " a very peaceable and 
inoffensive Person." "They pelted him with Dirt, 
Stones, and Sticks, and threw him several Times in 
the deep Mud, in which, considerioi'- the Darkness and 
the Crowd, he apprehended hims^f in Danger of bekig 
smothered. After this, some of them, who swore they 
would take his Life, dra^e'd him through a Horseponi, 
and tore great Part of his Coat from has Back." Darra- 
cott escaped out of the^ house by a back window.. The ac- 
count in the "Mercu^" ends with what is evidentlv 
a oommuniqu^ from Doddridge. The " Last Scene of 
Biot pass'd in the Yard of the George Inn, where the 
Constables and other Magistrates of the Town were m^t 
at a Court-Leet ; but, uiough they were too busy to 
interpose for Beck's Deliverance, it's hop'd that Per- 
sons of a much superior Character, to whom proper 
Application is made, wiU consider the Enormity of the 
Offence, and how much the Liberty of the Subject 
and the Public Safety are concerned in it." Doddridge 
obtained a warrant, by virtue of which four of the ring- 
leaders wiere carried before a nedghbouring justice. 
Here the "Superior Person," that is Mr. William 
Wykes, J. P., oif Haslebech, failed. Doddridge writes 
that this "tory justice," "the fittest man I know m 
the world to act the part of Jefferies a second time," 
"treated Beck as if he had been a felon, laid all the 
bhme upon him, declared it impudence to call these 



24 

thing-s bA assault, and forced him, hv threats of im- 
prisonment, to subscribe to a very defective informa- 
tion against many articles of whicu he protested, and 
at last allowed him two shillings damages to mend 
his windows, and two for the warrant." Doddridge 
moved the King's Bench, and an action was commenced 
against nine of the riot«rs and the maeistrate, but ''all 
the Tory gentlemen join in this scandsQous cause ; and, 
trusting to a Tory Sheriff, conclude, that against the 
strongest evidence they shall obtain a verdict from a 
Tory jury, as the cause is to be tried in th« county." 
Doddridge, however, was " up to a thing or two." He 
wrote to his most aristocraitic friends to get the ear of 
the Duke of Montagu, the Gustos Rotulorum, to nominate 
a Liberal Sheriff for the next year, specially mention- 
ing Sir John Robinson. In this Doddridge was success- 
ful ; and in the end " some justice was (Mne," but there 
is no record of what or how. 

In 1736 Doddridge, to his great grief, lost his eldest 
child, Ehzabeth. There were then three other children 
living, but the parents were inconsolable. Doddridge 
found relief in writing a sermon, entitled '' Submission 
to Divine Providence in the Death of Children." It is 
said that this sermon was actually written in the 
death chamber, the father using the infant's coffin for 
a desk. The Rev. WiUiam Hunt, of Newport Pagnell, 
conducted the funeral service. The body was interred 
under the communion table in front of the pulpit. 
Per*haps the death of his little prattling child, already 
instructed in the rudiments of knowledge by Mrs. 
Doddridge, led the pious father to think of those many 
children who were growing up in reUgious and non- 
religious families alike, with no learning whatever. 
Parents, especially if poor, were as ignorant of the 
A B G as their babes; and there was none to teach. 
Doddridge's old friend, by this time Dr. Samuel 
Clark, had already started a school in connection vith 
his church at St. Albans for teaching ^xrar children to 
read. Doddridge copied the idea, and in 1737 or 1738 
he established a school in connection with Castle Hill 
Chapel for teaching and clothing poor children. Nearly 
all that is known of this venture is contained in 
Orton's life of Doddridge, published in 1766. Orton, 
who was Doddridge's assistant both in the Church and 
in the academy, says: 

"In 1738 he persuaded his People to concur with 
him in* estabUshing a Charity-school. To this End 
they agreed to contribute certain Sums, weekhr or 
yearly, as their respective Circumstances would admit. 
He had the Satisfaction to find, that this benevolent 
Design m&t with so much Encourag^ement, that there 
was a Foundation laid for instructing and cloathing 
twenty Boys. These were selected and put under the 
Care of a pious and skilful Master, who taught them 
' to read, write, and learn their Catechism, and brought 
them regularly to Worship. An anniversary Sermon 
was preached and a Collection made for the Benefit 
of the School. Several of the Doctor's Friends at a 
Distance often gave generous Benefactions of Money 
or Books for the Use of the School; bv which, and 
from himself, the Children were supplied with Bibles, 
Cateohisms and other proper Books. He often visited 
the School, to support the Master's Authority and 
Respect, to. examine the Proficiency of the Children, 
-eatechise, instruct and pray with , them ; , end- the 
Trustees visited it weekly by Rotation, to observe the 



Bebayiour and Improvements of the Ohildren» and to 
receive the Master's B^rarfc concerning them. Tliis 
Institution has been serviceable to the temporal and 
eternal Interest of many, who mig^ht otherwise have 
been exposed to great Ignorance and Wretchedness; 
and it is still kept-np by the Congregation on tbe same 
Plan, tho' it wants some of those Advantages, which 
it derived from the Doctor's large Acquaintance and 
Influence." 

What became of the school after 1766, w^en Orton^s 
work was published, is not precisely known. A$ far 
as can be gathered it died from inanition about 1772. 
Similar schools were established at Leicester and other 
places ; and it may be that they materially influenced 
fiobert Raikes in starting Sunday Schools. 

On November 9th, 1738, Dr. Doddridge, for he had 
had tihe honorary degree of D.D. conferred upon him 
by tthe two Universities of Aberdeen, preached a special 
sermon at Wellingborough on account of the great fire 
there on July 28Ui. In the course of two hours it is 
recorded that nearly 200 houses and 600 other erec- 
tions were destroyed. "So intense was tihe heat that 
it melted the lead of the church, though happily that 
fine edifice received no further damage." The loss 
was precisely estimated at /25»987 5s. lOd. The town 



of Northampton sent /SlS for the relief of the suf- 
ferers, Kettering jflOST and Oundle /42. A day of 
fasting and prayer was observed at Wellingborougli 
on November 9th, when services were held at thp 
church and chapels. Doddridge preached from the 
apposite text: "I have overthrown some of you, as 
God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as 
a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye 
not returned unto me, saith the Lord." (Amos iv., 
11). The sermon wa^ afterwards printed, together 
with the hymn written by Doddridge for the same oc* 
casion. 

The following year Doddridg^e published the first 
volume of liis "ramily Expositor.*' The SiXth and 
last volume wbm not issued until alter his death. Frppi 
Doddridge's own manuscript list of subscribers, number- 
ing some 800, it is seen that he received the 8iupT>ort in 
his undertaking of many of the clergy and principal 
gentry in England. The dubscriptiott to ^be first 
volume seems to have been eight shillings. Dod- 
dridge was engaged on this book for twelve 
years. He actually finished the manuscript of 
the work in 1749. One day a neighbour aJarmed 
the household with the ^news that the study was on 
fire. Papers on Doddridge'* desk were found in flames, 
whioh were extinguished fortunately before much 
harm had been done. The manuscript of the **Family 
Expositor" was involved, much to Doddridge's sdarm, 
but it was only scorched. With its charred edges, it 
may still be seen in Regent's Park College Library, 
explaining the question in the preface — an echo of his 
Wellingborough fire text — " Is not tlhis a brand plucked 
from me burning?" 

Not long after t?his, in 1741, Doddridge's name be- 
came prominent in connection with a sensational mur- 
der trial at Northampton. Brian Gonnell, an Irish 
Roman Catholic, was found guilty at Northampton 
Assizes ol the murder of Biohard Brimley, a butcher, 
of Lois Weedon, on April 4t'h, 1739. Connell evaded 



26 



arrest for nearly eighteen montlis; and, as he «eems 
to Ihave 'hsd rich relatives, every effort w&s made to 
•ave his life. Dr. Doddridge visited him after his 
sentence, with the idea of doing the poor fellow some 
religions ^od. The prisoner soon made the pions 
doctor believe that he was entirely innocent; and in 
consequence Doddridge joined in the efforts to obtain 
his pardon. Here side by side are two accomits, one 
from a London newspaper, the other written by Dr. 
Doddridge himself and afterwards printed in Orton'-s 
"Memoira": — 



It appeared [at the Trial 
at Korthampton Assizes] 
that be, with some oiher 
Persons not yet taken, xave 
him 14 or 15 Wounds, and 
cut off his Head, so that it 
hang only br some Sinews. 
And Elisabeth Watson, who 
was Evidence for the King, 
gave her Testimony so 
dearly, that the Judge 
and all the Hearers were 
perfectly satisfied. Be- 
sides which, the Persons 
at whose Houses the Mur- 
derers lay appeared in 
Court, to testify that they 
were there the Night 
before the Murder, and 
hrouflrht some of the Mur- 
derer's Goods which hnd 
been left there. There 
were at Northampton 
some Newgate Sol lici tors, 
and other infamous Persons 
(of which Col. De Veil had 
Notice) and who were well 
known to him, who came 
to attend the Tryal of 
Bryan Conuell, to swear 
him elsewhere at the 
Time of the Murder, and 
to give him a good Char- 
acter : but their own bemg 
so well known to the 
Colonel (tho* ten in Num- 
ber) not one appeared in 
Court. —Newspaper report. 



The Evidence against him 
at his Trial seemed full and 
strong : but it chiefly de- 
pended on the Credit of an 
infamous Woman, who 
owned she had lived with 
hiiii in Adultery some Years. 
. . . The Prisoner told a 
long Stor;r of himself ; but 
it was 80 ill supported, that 
I imagine, no one Person m 
C'ourt believed it. I visited 
him after his Conviction, 
with a compassionate View 
to his eternal Concerns : but 
instead of being able, by any 
Remonstrances, to persuade 
him to confess the Fact, I 
found him fixed in a most 
resolute Denial of it. . . . 
I was so struck with the 
Affair that I obtained Time 
of the Under-sheriff to make 
Enquiry into the Truth of 
what he had told me. 
Having sent a wise and 
faithful Friend to Whit- 
church and Chester, to 
examine the Evidence he 
appealed to, I found every 
Circumstance which the Con- 
vict had asserted, proved; 
and the concurrent Testi- 
mony of five credible Per- 
sons attested, that he was 
in Cheshire, when the Mur- 
ther was committed.— Dr. 
Doddridge. 



No one sided with the good doctor in his advocacy 
of the cause of the murderer, who was accordingly 
executed; but Doddridge was charged with being a 
Papist in disguise. Well might the Kev. John 
Barker, a leading Nonconformist of the day, write to 
Doddridge: "You are so good yourself that you think 
everybo(fy else ten times better than they are, see 
merit in the darkness of midnight, cannot see faults 
without a noonday sun." 

Another culprit had the questionable advantage of 
Doddridge's advocacy. A disturbance at Kettering 
resulted in a man being killed " at the Blackamoor's 
Head." Two men named Porter and Attenborough 
were found guilty of murder at Northampton Assises 
in the spring of 174-3, and were sentenced to death. 
Attenborough seems to have had wealthy connections 
in London, and extraordinary efforts were made to 
obtain a reprieve for him. All tha^ was done, ho^f- 



27 

ever, was to secure a respite for 15 days: the poor 
man was hanged on March 11th, and the rich one on 
the 26th. Doddridge was impressed with the story 
of innocence told him by Attenborouffh, and writes 
that his trae plea was never heard, and that it looked 
as if he were the victim of a " confederacy '* to screen 
the *^ guilty, who are all escaped,'' and punish others 
^'to satisfy the public with the death of some/' The 
*< Northampton Mercury" says that Attenboroug:h at 
the gibbet ^* behav'd with great Oourage and Intrepidity, 
and was very penitent, but deny'd his being m any 
Shape guilty of the Murder." 

The fact is, Doddridge was so guileless that he 
believed any story told him if it were clothed in a 
sufficiency of piety. . Many an instance could be given 
of his creduhty, simple credulity, but one or two 
must suffice. They are all connected with a poor 
family named Wills, ai Pitsford. One of the daughters 
named Mary, according to Doddridge, had remarkable 
powers of prophecy and miraoubus experiences. She 
foretold his coming to Northampton; she prophesied 
the text from which he would preach; she was 
miraculously preserved from the murderer's poison 
and the lust of the ravisher; her famihr lived for 
weeks on a small portion of food, which, like the 
cruse of oil, never wasted; a pigeon was sent in 
answer to her wis-h, and a lamb m answer to her 
prayer; for the health of her sister the clouds rained 
heavily roundaJbout, whilst the two women were drf: 
like Gideon's fleece, they were not wet, whilst tne 
ground was sodden with rain; she was miraculously 
and instantaneously cured of paralysis;' she foretold 
the death of Doddridge's Betsy, and divined hia 
secret thoughts and actions ; and she gave an oracular 
account of the coming invasion of England by the 
Scots. 

The hial/ory of Doddridge is eesentialty the hfe story 
of a man of phenomenal powers of cinitiatdve. He waa 
a bundle of ideas. New thoughts, new pitoposakS, new 
eras, were always before hkn. With him to think was 
to do. Intensely spirituel, he had a remarkable gift 
of common-sense modified by mistaken confidenca in 
human nature ; he possessed a constant determination 
to be always active instead of brooding over his troubles ; 
he was always attempting some new plan or adopting 
some new proposal. He (ud not always regard the duty 
at hand to be the work of the moment, and well for 
the world that he did not. He had an impartant 
-vHork to do though he never realised the magnivnde of 
it. His people grumbled and grumbled that he devoted 
eo little time to his own church ; and the more they 
grumbled the more work he found elsewhere. In his 
early days at Eibworth he was womtb to speak of the 
district whence his congregation was drawn as his 
*' diocese." At Northampton " his diocese " waa larger, 
it was really the whole English speaking wor!d. Ha 
«trove to make its bounds wider ^et, for he came for- 
ward with a plan for Foreign Missions. 'Hiat waa in 
1741, the 3rear that he was elected oorreapocding mem- 
ber of the Society for the Futherance 'of the Gospel, 
and the year after four preachinj^ elders had been ap- 
pointed by his Church to assist him. These four were 
the Rev. Job Orton, his biographer; the Rev. Joftin 
Evans, who is buried in Castle Hill Chapel; John 
Browne and Samuel Hayworth. In June, 174-1, at Denton^^ 
an Norfolk, and in October, at Kettering, Doddridf^e 



^Hyeijt!^ «|2i opnpaMioned sennon on <<The Evil and 
Pi»nger o| Neglecting Soiil«.»* The sermon wa« in ci&dl 
instance followed by a conference of mimster« on tha 
iest means of advancing Ghidat's kingdom. l%e 
pennon was of ooorse printed. In the dedication 
Poddridge makes the suggestion that <* pious people 
ynite as members of a society; that they daily" offer 
wo some eame«t prayer for the propagation of the 
Grbsp^l in tt^« world, especially among th^ hesitlian 
natdons ; that they attend four tunes a year for scdemn 
prayer ; that some time be then spent in reviewing the 
promises relating to the eatablishmrat of the Bedeemer'a 
kingdom in the world; that any important informa- 
tion of the progress of the Grospel from foreign lands 
be communicated at these quarterly meetings; that 
•ach member contribute something towards supporting 
the expense of sending missionaries abroad, printing 
Bibles ard other useful bociks in foreign languages; 
establishing schools for the instruction of tlhiB ignorant, 
and the Hke." Dr. Stanford observes on this: 

In this scheme of an auxiliary for the foreign 

apread of the Grospel, began our modern mode of 

carrying out the Saviour's great missionary law. 

Each Missionary Society is but an aggregate of 

auxiliaries like the one here suggested. Oar societies, 

whose united labours have been crowned with sue* 

oess, not the less wonderful because it is sometimes 

ungratefully denied, seem to have sprung from this 

germ. 

Was Carey's heart warmed to his great missionary 

purpose and his great missionary sermon by Doddridge's 

sermon and plan printed forty years before? It was 

more than a suggestion, for we find that a real and 

definite start was made. In the Crunch Book at CA9tla 

Hill is the following entry :- 

Received of ye Collection made at 
. ye Ist meetinur of ye Society for ye y 7 15 iA 
propatration of ye Gospel March ( ^ ^^ ^^ 
J.6-W2 
"' Beceived since from Several Hands 28. 6d. 2s. .^ 

This collection oii<vht to be as famous as tiiat at 
Kettering on October 2nd, 1792, when £1Z 2s. 6d. waa 
obtained from thirteen persons, and the Baptoat Mis- 
sionary Society was started. 

Next we find Doddridge taking an active part in the 
foundation of the Northampton Infiitnary: indeed it 
was through the instrumentaility of the Doctor an4 
one or two others, materially aided by the '* North- ^ 
ampton Mercury," that the noble institution known 
now as th-e Northampton General Infirmary, waa 
founded. Dr. , afterw^ards the Bev. , Sir James Stonhouse, 
was the actual originator. He came to Northampton 
from Coventry, ^ young man of 27, just married, with 
some money, and on tide look out for a practice. There 
were, however, three doctors already established ip 
the town. He made the fpurth and Akenside, the poet, 
who soon left, ^he Ijifth. Stonhouse wa'ted for patients ; 
ai;id in the intervals of waiting bethought of e8tabli«hing 
an hospital for the poor ^s had already been done jh 
one «o^ two large to^na in the country. As soon as he 
))£ard o| the project, the charitable Doddridge warmly 
j(upport)ed it, an^ haying the ear of toqia of the o^pj 
iD[^aJ>itwt8 9f t^e coi;mty, ^e pi^i^wged to get t^vje ijifttteir 
brojuflM; Jbefore the .Grand 



JSjIef^ije j^e jGrand iu^rjr at'^e JJo^s^h^i^tciii 



> 3 16 : 



Auises on July 21«t, 1745. The 4cheme took. The 
** Northampton Mercury " of the following MoodBy says : 

On Thursday hist the Proposals for establishing the 
County Hospital at Northampton were laid before 
the Ghrand Jury, and the rest of thv ir^.n^lemen there 
adseKubled, who hiflrhly approv'd of so Chariieble a 
Design, and subscnb'd very considerably, some Five, 
othera Pour, Three, or Two Chiineas a-pieoe, according 
to their several dispositions, to be by them paid Yearly 
(during Pleasure;) and we make no Doubt but »o 
laudable an Example will be generously followed 
all over the County, for the more immediate En- 
couragement of so beneficial and extensive a Charity. 
All Gentlemen, Clergy, Tradesmen, and Farmers, who 
are willing to assist the distress'd Poor of Northamp- 
tonshire, are desired with all convenient Speed, to 
send their Names, Places of Abode, and respective 
Sums of their intended Subscriptions, to the Mayor 
of Northampton, to Mr. Edward Cave, at the General 
Post-Office, in Lombard-Street, London, or to William 
Dicey, the Printer hereof. 

We hear several of the Nobility are determined 
strenuously to promote this Glorious Undertaking, 
not only by their present Bounties, but future Con- 
tinuance of their Favours, and occasional Recom- 
mendation. 

A few weeks later the editor of the "Northampton 
Mercury " published a long poem, probably from the 
pen of his daughter (Miss Dicey), " Occasioned bv Bead- 
mg the Proposals for Establishing a County Hospital 
at Northampton." After this references to me s .beme 
appear frequently in the " Mercury " with appeals from 
the editor, Mr. William Dicey, who was one of those 
appointed to receive subscriptions. On September 4th, 
Doddriidge preached a special sermon on the subject, 
taking tor bds text " Blessed i« he that considereth the 
poor: the Lord wiU deliver him in time of trouble. 
The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languidi- 
ing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." 
(Psalm xli., 1, 3.) A large edition was printed; and 
" it helped to create an atmosphere of opinion favour- 
able to the growth oif the enterprise." On Tuesday, 
September 2(^, says the first report, "at a General 
and Very Great Meeting of the Nobility, Gentry, and 
Clergy," it was resolvedj ^'to Establisih the Hospitod, 
a«d by their liberal Subscriptions and Benefactions a 
Sum was raised sufficient to begin with." This meet- 
ing was held in the Bed Lion Inn, now the building- 
in Sheep-street in part occupied by the Young Men's 
Christian Association. The Duke of Montagu was 
appointed Grand Visitor, and the Eai^ of Halifax was 
elected Perpetual President. Doddridg» was the fiwt 
Chairman (k the Weekly Conamittee. Boom was found 
for eighty beds at a total cost for building, alterations, 
and furniture of ;£750, at the premises in G«orge-rcw 
previously known as the Adam and Eve, and now 
Whitworth Chambers and the County Club. 

Dr. Doddridge, notwithstanding that he wrote of 
Stonhouse "he is a most abandoned rake and auda- 
cious Deist," was a firm friend of the young docJtor. 
A patient of Stonhouse, who became the most popular 
practitioner in Northampton, expressed the desire« 
n^en on 'her death-bed, tiiat Doddridge should preaoh 
^er luaeral sennoB ; - and that her doctor, Stoahonse, 



30 

sliould go to hear it. Both respected her wishes, 
and after hearing the funeral serr-on, Stonhouse for 
several Sundays went to Castle Hill Ohapel, standing, 
however, in some comer where he should be un- 
observed. Doddridge's preaching so inapressed him 
t'hat he relinquished his non-religious views, and at- 
taching himself to the Ohuroh of England, be^an a 
life of self-denying Ohristianity whidh he continued 
and enlarged to his dying day. He came to regard the 
spiritual well-being of niis patients as of as much 
importance as their physical health, and he went bo 
for as to conduct religious services in the wards; but 
that was stopped. He wrote several religious pam- 
phlets, chiefly known of which wb» " Friendly Advice 
to a Patient," which, published in 174-8, wa? distributed 
by the Governors to patients of the Northampton In- 
firmary for over three-quarters of a century. Ston- 
house subsequently left the medical profession — ^in 
advertisements in the "Northampton Mercury" he 
said on account of ill-health — took holy orders, and 
died in 1795 rector of Great and Little Cheverill, Berk- 
s'hire. At a banquet given in aid of the hospital in 
the early days of its existence, it is recorded that 
Lord Halifax presided with becoming decorum, but 
" an unsuitable toast " being proposed, Doddridge 
immediately left. This bold action naturally attracted 
the attention of all. " Ah ! " said the chairtiian. " there, 
goes a Christian and a gentleman." On another 
occaision, after Lord Halifax had conversed with 
Doddridge in the street, he turned round and saw the 
doctor engaged in familiar discourse with a poor man. 
" Now this I call true greatness," said Halifax to a 
friend, "to be capable of rising to the highest and 
descending to the lowest rank with equal facility ancl 
freedom ! " 

The Northampton Infirmary was not the only in- 
8«titution started in Northampton in 1743 with which 
Doddridge was connected. On November 11th, 1743, 
the Philosop'hical Society of Northampton was insti- 
tuted. It consisted of medical and other gentlemen 
in town and country, who met for enquiry and ex- 
periment. In 1744 Doddridge, who had been an 
active member from the commencement, read two 
papers before the Society, one on "The Doctrine of 
Pendulums," the other on "The Law« of the Com- 
munication of Motion as well in elastic as in non- 
elastic Bodies." Doddridge was already associated 
with the Royal Society. Three papers by him are in 
the published Transactions. One is as curious a tale 
as ever sensible m«ui wrote in solemn earnest. A 
communication on the British Earthquake of September 
30th, 1760, is extrepiely interesting. It was felt over 
a very large area, including the whole of Northamp- 
tonshire. At Northampton, a staok of chimneys was 
thrown down in College Lane, the windows of houses 
rattled throughout the whole town, but no serious 
mischief was done. Dr. Stonhouse's dwelling, "the 
strongest in the town," was most sensibly shaken. 

To return, however, to 1743. In this same year 
Doddridge issued his "Versified Epitome for Child- 
ren." This is am interesting work. Doddridige is 
justly admired all over thie Engl-jsh-speaking world 
as a writer of hymns. In this Watts was his model; 
and if Doddridge never rises as hig<h as Watts, he 
jiever sinks so low. In his verses for childrei;^ 



31 

Doddridge invaded a province which Wtttts had made 
peculiarly his own. I>fc cannot be said -that he was 
very auccessM, 'but the book waa a favourite with 
George III. as a boy. Doddridge's hymns were chiefly 
composed on the basis of «ome scriptural text; they 
were circulated in manuscript, and were often sung 
in worship, being given out line by line by Doddridge 
after the sermon, to which they liad reference, and 
for which they were in many cases s-pecially written. 
They were never collected until after Doddridge's 
death. His son-in-law Huonphreys published no less 
than 397. Their use has by no means been confined 
to Dissenters: a Christmas Hymn and a Communion 
Hymn (said to have been inserted by a Dissenting 
printer) at the end of the Book of Common Prayer 
are by Doddridge ; and the Paraphrases of the Church 
of Scotland have been borrowed from ihim. James 
Hamilton calls >the hymns that were epitomes of 
the preceding sermons, " spiritual amber- " ; in them, 
«ays another critic, "the personal Saviour overpowers 
the official Saviour." Dr. Johnson pronounces 
Doddridge's lines on the motto of the family, "Dum 
Vivimus Vivamus " (Live while you live) as " one of 
the finest epigrams in the English language. '^ The 
lines are : 

Live while you live, the epicure would say, 
And 9eize the pleasures of the present day. 
Live while you live, the sacred preacher cries, 
A<rd give to God each moment a^ it flies. 
Lord, in my dife, let both united be, 
I live in pleasure, when I live to thee ! 

Biographers of Doddridge seem agreed that the 
pas-tor of Castle Hill was guilty of a blazing in- 
discretion in 1743. Whitefield for a second lixne visited 
Northampton, and he came under different circum- 
stances. In May, 1739, " not being admitted to one 
Pulpit in City or Suburbs, he continued his Preach- 
ments at Moorfields, and Kennington Common to 
vast Numbers of Peopile. On Monday the 21st he 
made an Excursion to Hertford, and thence to Bed- 
ford, Oulney, Northampton, Hitchen., St. Albans, and 
being denyM the Pulpits, preach'd at Nortliampton 
from the Weighing Chair on the Horse-Course, else- 
where in the Fields; and having sow'd the Seeds 
of Methodism throughout hi* Progress, returned the 
following Saturday. Evening to Kennington Conomon." 
("Gentlemen's Magazine," May, 1739). In the course 
of the few following years Doddridge became acquain- 
ted with WhitefieW, and in July, 1743, took part in 
services <at Whitefield's tabernacle. Dr. Watt« and 
many more of lesser importance were acandalised, 
but Doddridge, as ever, was inipervious to criticism. 
Eariy in October he allowed Whitefield to preach 
in Castle Hill Chapel. The two end windows (north 
windows) were taken out so that people who oould 
not get in should, be able to hisar. Reproaches came 
storming in from London and the country; and it is 
disappointing to find that Doddridge made half an 
apology. He was induced to this probably by the 
representations of Coward's trustees, who were sub- 
sidising his Academy, and were solicitous about the 
orthodoxy of the teaching there, teaching that was 
already^ being looked upon with suspicious eye. 
Doddridge was too tolerant for the period. When in 
1750 W'hitefield again came to Northampton ha 



preached not et Castle Hill, but "under the canopy 
of the skies." He was attended by as strange a body 

faard as could be imagined: the pious Doddridge, 
resbyterian and now Con^regationalist ; Dr. Ston- 
house, the reformed Atheist, thinking of entering 
the Ohurch of Eng.and ministry; the Bev. James 
Hervey, then a Caurch of England Curate of his 
father at Weston Favell, and one of the chief ministers 
of the Oxford Methodist movement; and the Bev. 
Thomas Hartley, vicar of Winwick, Northampton- 
shire, a preacher and writer of Swedenborgianism. 
Long before this third visit Doddridge became a 
personal friend of Wesley, from whom Whitefield had 
parted. In 1745 Wesley visited Doddridge at his 
nome in Sheep-street, and addressed the students 
there. 

The Rebellion of 1745 brought out yet amother phase 
of Doddridge's character. Like all Dissenters, he was 
a Hanoverian out and out. In 1736 he preached a 
sermon, the last of a series on the same subject, in 
which he traced the connection between the hopes of 
Popery in England and the hopes of the Pretender. 
It is a matter of history how -Charles Edward Stuart, 
the Young Pretender, set up his standard in Scotland 
in the summer of 1745, was proclaimed Euing at Perth on 
September 4th, and afterwards commenced an invasion 
of England. Doddridge was keenly excited, for he was 
a political Dissenter, if ever there was one. More, hi* 
familiar at Pibsford, Mary Wilis, had told him such tales 
as ihad led him to writ© in (his diary -six years before, 
that she -had told him years tbefore that, that the 
King of England would be deceived, England would 
be in great danger and distress, that though the trial 
would be sham it would be short, and that " This great 
and dangerous trial should be by the sword." 

Still more closely was he affected. Colonel Gardiner, 
a dear friend of the Doctor, had talked to him about 
the coming trouble. Grardiner was a young officer 
who was as com^^lete an atheist and as abandoned a 
rake as it is possible to f^onceive. One night, when im- 
patiently awaiting the hour of a prearranged adulterous 
liaison, he suddenly saw a virion, and became converted. 
Dr. Doddridge wrote down full particulars and was 
ridiculed in consequence. But Colonel Gardiner and 
he became like brothers, and th.e military co^nvert made 
no secret of has fears of a rising^ in Scotland. Soon after 
the ^business at Perth it 'be^une evident that itihere 
would be an engagement at Preatonpans, near Gardiner's 
house. The Iwittle 'took place on September 21st, the 
firsit engagement of any moment in the campaign, and 
in that day's fight Colonel Gardiner was killed. Dod- 
dridge believed that his death was due to the in* 
competencv of General Cope in command of the King's 
forces in Scotland. The news of the death of Gardiner 
was received with much more concern in Northampton 
than the reverse to the loyalist troops. Doddridge wrote 
a long memoir of his friend and published it for the 
encouragement of Christians. Somehow or other the 
" authorities " were asleep. They did not believe there 
could be any such thing aa an invasion. The battle of 
Prestonpans awoke them ; and then all was confusion. 
Then the paragraphs in the newspapers instead of 
uniformly ridiculing the "misguided rebels," suddenly 



33 

all spoke of their cruelties and abominaiiona. Br. 
Stsn-ford in his history of Doddridge says: 

Thoughts of Highlanders and Frenchmen, of the 
Pope and the Pretender, all confused into one horror, 
suddenly mas-tered many people, and changed their 
supinec«ss into a pitiful panic. If they vere prepared 

for anything, it was for flight Teb there 

were fine exceptions. Hie nobility bejzan to raise 
regiments. Leaders in the Church <>t England, in 
the Kirk of Scotland, and in the ?i jijinf ormiat 
Churches, sent out printed addresses to rouse the 
loyalty of their several oommtiniliee. . . While 
these movements were goin^ on we find, from a com- 
parison of dates, that Doddridge was firat in the field. 
He had already been at work, trying to get the Earl 
of Halifax to raise a corps of volunteers in the 
county. 

In a letter addressed to him by the Earl on the day 
before the battle of Prestonpans, Halifax expressed him- 
self as of the same opinion as Doddridge, but his friends 
bad convixx;ed him that ^'as this rebellion is not yet 
considered in so serious a light as to render any extra- 
ordinary offer of this na>ture acceptable to Uiose in 
power, I had better wait until the exigency would better 

S' istify them." The next week D(Kldridge dined at 
orton in order to talk over the matter with Halifax, 
with the result that a meeting was called ** to raise and 
maintain a body of forces in and about Northampton." 
Doddridge issued e circular on the subject, and regd- 
ment'S were raised. The Duke of Montagu enrolled a 
troop of horse of 273 strong ; and he, and the Dnke of 
Bedford, and the Earl of Halifax (the last-named with 
Doddridge's help) established each a regiment of 814- 
men. In the Earl of Halifax's regiment were several 
membeps of Oastle Hill Church, and one of Doddrldge'a 
pupils, a son of the Earl of Eilkerram, was standard 
bearer. The regiment left Northampton on the 22nd 
and 23rd of November. The Bishop of Peterborough 
(Robert Clavering) addressed the clergy of the diocese, 
and the Corporation and borough of Northampton sub- 
scribed to a loyal address to the king. One of the 
clauses of this last -ran: 

It i» with the greatest Detestation and iJbhorrence 
that we observe a Rebellion broke out in these your 
Majesty's Dominions, abetted by the cooimon Dis- 
turber of Europe, contrived to deprive us of that 
Protection under which we are happy, by introducing 
a Religion founded on Absurdity and Superstition, 
and a Popish Pretender educated under the In- 
ftneace of Slavery and Arbitrary Power. 

Northampton now became the scene of all the ex- 
citement of preparation for war. Soldiers were exer- 
cised daily; and every hour troops and rations and 
ammunitions and other war materiel were hurried 
through the to^n for the North. Just as much went 
bv the other north roads in the country' — that is 
through Towcester and through Wellingborough. 
Field-Marshal Wade, Commander-in-Chief of his 
Majesty's Forces in the North, reached Northampton 
on October 9th, stayed the night at the George Inn, 
and was off earlv next morning. On Friday, the 11th, 
**the Worshipful the Mayor of this Corporation, by 
publick Proclamation, invited all the Inhabitants able 



34 



to beer Arms to enter into Associations for the De- 
fence of ihis Majesty's Person and Grovemioent, and 
the Preservation of ^ur liappy Constitution in Qhuroh 
and State. '^ 

Soon after there was an address from the county, 
and, says the " Northampton Mercury " of November 
11th, referring to the 5th of that month : 

Tuesday being the Anniversary of the Double 
Happy Deliverance of these Kingdoms from Popish 
Tyranny and Arbitrary Power, the Morning was 
usher'd in here with Ringing of Bells : At the usual 
Time the Worshipful John Gibson, Esq ; Mayor of 
this Corporation, attended bv t>he Aldermen, Bailiffs, 
&c. and preceded by the Town Musick and Flags, 
went to All- Saints Church, where an excellent Ser- 
mon, suitable to the Solemnity of the Day, was 
preached by the Rev. Mr. Locock, Vicar of that 
Church ; from whence the Mayor, &c. went to their 
G-uildhall, to drink to the Healths of his Majesty 
and his Royal Familv, kc. In the Evening, Bonfires 
were made in several Parts of the Town, particularly 
a large one at the Rev. Dr. Doddridge's, in which 
tihe Effigy of the Pretender was burnt; the Doctor's 
House was finely illuminated, the Candles, by their 
Position, forming these Words, KING GEORGE, NO 
PRETENDER; there were also Sky-Rockets, and 
other Fireworks. And the Evening concluded with 
all Demonstrations of Loyalty to his Majesty and 
the Royal Family. 

But nothing seemed to stop the course of the "un- 
natural rebeUion." The invaders were on their way 
to London; and they were sacking every town and 
village tliey went through. They were coming straight 
to Northampton; and the people began hicUng their 
valuables. The Duke of Oumberkind, of bloody 
memorv, arrived on the scene. The rebels were less 
than a hundred miles away. He intended to intercept 
them at Northampton and have a pitched battle just 
outside the town, on Harleston Heath. Doddridge 
was bustling about everywhere; and he wrote to the 
Government recommending the raising of a permanent 
body of volunteers exactly on the lines of the present 
Volunteer force, men who "might on one exigency do 
something, and by their numbers greatly discourage 
an enemy." When the Pretender reached Derby and 
heard of the stand that was to be made at Northamp- 
ton, he immediately set his face to the North. From 
that moment all was lost. There was a miserable, 
Iwrrible retreat into Scotland ; there was the frigihtful 
carnage on Culloden ; there was the himtiu'g of 
fugitives on the hills and moors of Scotland; ftnd 
there were the beheadings of prisoners, including, as 
the *' Northampton Mercury" puts it: "the Rebel 
Quarter-Master M'Naughton, who killed the brave 
Colonel Gardiner." There were bonfires and illumina- 
tions at Northampton; and Doddridge preached and 
printed a thanksgiving sermon under the title of 
"Deliverance out of the Hands of our Enemies." It 
was delivered on February 9th, 1746, after the evacua- 
tion of Stirling. On the first anniversary of the battle 
he printed " A Friendly Letter to the Private 
Soldiers in a Regiment of Foot, one of those engaged 
in the Important and Glorious Battle of Cuiloden." 



35 

When things had quieted down a bit, there was an 
attempt at Christian Be-union. Bishops and leading 
Nonconformists held conferences -with this oblect. 
Doddridge was with them with his counsel, though he 
did not believe in the possibility of obtaining the ob- 
ject in view. He had, however, written to Arch- 
bishop Herring making a proposal that the Church of 
England and Dissenting ministers should occasionally 
exchange pulpits. 

Doddridge was now nearing the end of a short but 
pre-eminently useful hfe. On the last day of 1748 he 
finished the exposition in his "Family Expositor," and 
in the following August he completed the notes. About 
the same time his ninth and last child was born. A 
year kbter he preached « special -sermon on the earth- 
quake of September 30th, 1750; and in December of 
the same year, on his way to the funeral of his early 
benefactor. Dr. Clark, at St. Albans, he caught a 
severe cold, and was unable to shake o£f its effects. 
His multitudinous labours had been too great for his 
slender constitution. All during the spring of 1751 he 
was unwell. A change of air was determmed on. He 
preached a farewell sermon at Castle Hill — a farewell 
for a secMon it was hoped, but it proved a farewell for 
ever, so far as this world is concerned — on July 14th, 
1751. He went to Bewdley, in Worcestershire, where 
he delivered a charge on the 8th. Then he visited his 
great frdend Job Ortan at Shrewsbury., and in Auguat 
went to Bristol for the hot wells, Bristol last century 
beinff one of the chief health resorts in England. Dr. 
Madaox, Bishop of Worcester, called on him and 
offered him the use of his carriage. ^^300, of whioh 
Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, contributed ;£100, 
was raised by a few friends to enable him to try a 
voyage to Lisbon. He left Bristol on September 17th, 
stayed a short time with Lady Huntingdon at Bath, 
and, accompanied by his wife and a female servant, 
sailed from Falmouth on September 30th'. At Lisbon 
he was the guest of David King, son of one of the 
Oastle HiU members. Here his spirits revived, but 
his stren^h was gone. He gradually sank, and died 
in a foreign land, on October 26th, 1751, at the age 
of 48. It took nearly four weeks for the sad news to 
reach Northamipton. There is preserved in the vestry 
of the chapel a copy of t^e "Northampton Mercury" 
of Monday, November 25th, 1751, oontaining the 
following : 

The last Packet brought the melancholy Advice, that on 
the 26th of October. 0. S. died (in his 50th year) the Bev. 
Philip Doddridge. D. D.. of a Consumption of the Lunn, 
at Lisbon : to which Place he had lately resorted, by tne 
Advice of his Physicians, for the Recovery of his Health. 

He had been Minister of the Dif^senting Meetinar in 

this Place 22 Years.— and had establish'd an ACADEMY 
here, which he supported with such Reputation as brouflrht 

Students to it from all Parts of the Emprdom. He was 

a Man of a fine ^Jenius, rich in the Stores of Learning, 

and of unexampled Activity and Dilifirence. His Pie^ 

was withoot Disflruise, his Love without Jealousy, his 
Benevolence without Bounds. His Candour was so un- 
commonly extensive and unaffected, as to gain him the 
geneml Esteem of the Clersrv, and the particniar Friend- 
ship of some very eminent Men. In the several Charac- 
ters of a Friend, a Preacher, a Writer, a Tutor, he had 

few Superiors -. In all united, he had no E^nal. His 

cUsoonsolate Widow (whose chief Dowry is, that she 



36 

ittkeriti the Spirit of this Exoellent Man) is rehiniinflr to 
Sn^rland, to Aaawa^ the Griefs and form the Minds of her 
amiable Offsprinfr : and to forward those Writinirs to the 
Press, which were designed for the publick View. 

May not the following Lines be apply'd on this melan« 
cholj Oocasion ? 

While Malice, D D DB I D QS, toihf Pftflre 

Deny'd its Heav'nly Fire ; 
While Bigots^ fill'd with Jealous Rage, 

Admiring, scom'd t'admire : 
While wayward Pens thy Worth assaird, 

(For ENVY will decry !) 
Those Times tho' many a Friend bewaiFd, 

Those Times hewatVd not I. 

fiat now the W B L D ' s load Praise is thine. 

And Spleen no more shall blame ; 
Now, wibh thy WATT8 when Thoa shalfc shine 

In one establish'd Fame. 
Now none shall rail, but ev*ry Lay 

De? otes a Wreath to Thee : 
This Day (fob ook b it is) this Day 

Do I lament to see. 

Doddridge's remains were buried within the English 
cemetery at Lisbon, and a stone was placed above the 
grave. In 1814- this stone was cleaned and recut at 
the expense of the Englis'h chaplain; and in 1828 it 
was replaced by a new marble tomb, erected at the 
cost of Thomas Tayler, who himself died in 18S1. 
Tayler, who is often comited as Doddridge's last sur- 
viving student, '< had the advantage of his acquaintance 
and friendship," but was not admitted to the Academy 
until after Doddridge had left England. In 1879 the 
tomb was renovated by the then chaplain, the Bev. 
Godfrey Pope. The congregation at Castle HiU erected 
an ornate UMUument to Doddridge^s memory in their 
meetinsc house. The inscription, written by Gilbert 
West, is as follows: — 

Unity & Love. 

To the Memory of 

Philip Doddridge, D.D., 

XXI Tears Pastor of this Church, 

Director of a Flourishing Academy, 

And Author of many excellent Writings; 

By which 

His pious, benevolent, and indefatigable Zeal 

To make Men Wise, Good and Happy 

Will far better be made known, 

And perpetuated much longer, 

Than by this obscure and perishable Marble; 

The humble Monument, not of his Praise, 

But of their Esteem, Affection and Begret, 

Who knew him, lov'd him and lament him ; 

And who are desirous of recording, in this inscription. 

Their friendly but faithful Testimony 

To the many amiable and Christian Virtues 

That adorn'd his more private Character; 

By which, though dead, he yet speaketh, 

And still present in Bemembrance, 

Forcibly, though silently admonishes 

His once beloved and ever- grateful Flock. 

Ha was bom Jan. 26th, 1702, 

Died Octob: 26th, 1751. 

Death is Swallowed up in Victory, 



87 

By ihii deatih abroad, bis widow lost an ennnity, wfaicAi, 
however, friends in England soon made up. H« left 
four childTen, "his unhappy son" Philip, who died in 
1785, unzxiarri«d, a^:«d 4-7 ; Mary who beoam^ the second 
wife of John Humphreys, of Tewkesbury, and died ijn 
1799, aged 66 ; Mercy, who died unmarried at Bathj in 
1809, aged 75; and Anna Cecilia, who died unmarried 
at Tewkesbury, in 1811, aged 74. Mrs. Doddfud^e, the 
widow, died also at Tewkesbury (where the family re- 
moved fnom North»mpton in 1753) in 1790, at the ad- 
vanced age of 82. When Doddridge died, the member- 
ship of his church was only 239, a decrease of 103 during 
his pastorate. Some wei-e " rent off " to the Moraviana, 
a matter of great concern to Doddridge. Dodditdge is 
described by Orton as being tall, slender, and extremely 
near-sighted. His portrait was several times painted, 
and has often been engraved. One pontrait, posthumous, 
in New College, London, was painted by John Rus- 
sell, B.A., from a miniature. A fine portrait is pos- 
sessed by Doddridge Church; another, in Com- 
mercial-street Chapel, Northampton, was presented to 
that Ohurcih by the executory of a former pastor, the 
late Bev. E. T. Prust. 



BOBEBT GILBERT. 

The mourning church did not readily find a pastor 
to take the place of the pious Doctor Doddridge, whose 
good qualities were ever present to the members now 
thart he was no more. Soon after his decea>se the 
academy was removed to Daventry, where it was placed 
under the care of tihe Bev. (afterwards Dr.) Caleb Ash- 
worth. Tbie records in the Church Book were stcll 
scanty, and very little inforanati-on is to be obtained 
from them respecting the next few years. From other 
swurces we leairn that a number of " supplies " preached 
in the church for a period of ahout eighteen months; 
but apparently both students and tnied ministers were 
loth to attempt to fill the pastorate so recently occupied 
by so famous a divine as Doddridge. In their dilemma, 
for the forces of disintegration were evidentljr already 
present, the Church apphed to the " London Ministers " 
for counsel, a proceeding some of the " Independents " 
did not like. They contended that outsiders, ministers 
or not, should not be consulted in the Church's own 
affairs. One young man who had been a student at 
Doddiridge's Academy shouted out at a church meeting 
that they might just as well send for the Pope, a re- 
mark tha;t led to the gathering being broken up. In 
the end the Bev. Bobwt Gilbert, of Oakham, was in- 
vited. He accepted the call, and, as the Church Book 
says, " entered upon the Pastoral Charge on Lady Day, 
1753." Mr. Warburton was chosen to assist him, Mr. 
Warburton preaching in the moimings, and Mr. Gilbert 
occupving the pulpit and aJso adminis>tering the Lord's 
Supper in the evenings. Mr. Warburton was soon after 
appointed pastor of the Congregational Church at Crea- 
ton, but he continued his Sunday mortring labours at 
Northampton. There is very little to add to this quiet 
and joint ministry of Mr. GLlbert and Mr. Warburton, 
whdch continued for seven years until Mr. Gilbert's 
death in* 1760. Almost the only document in existence 
that throws any light whatever upon this seven years is 
a curious parchment in the Northampton Reference 
Library, the endorsement of which fully indicates its 



88 

chAracter: "A.D. 1757. NorttMunpUmahire SubBCidp- 
tion List. 5 per Gent. Loaa to defmy tibe Expejieee of 
the War with. France." The Government invited 
we&thy Engli'ahmeD to lend them money at 5 
per cent. The money was not tx) be paid down all at 
once, but in twenty instalments. In all 67 in the town 
and county promised to lend sums ranging from ^£600, 
offered by the Oorponation of Nortftiampton, down to 
vClOO, and with few exceptions the promises were kept. 
Of the Northampton gentlemen whose names appear on 
the list, quite one hsuf were either members of Oastle 
Hill Church' or members of the congregation; an ixKli- 
cation, if not absolute proof, that Castle Hill attiracted 
a large proportion of the wealthy and influential people 
of the town. The wealth and influence of its meimbers 
were soon to prove the cau<se of its greatest trouble, and 
to humble it in the dust among dissenting churches in 
the district. Already the blighting effects were being 
felt of having among the worabippere men who con- 
sidered that their money alone raised them above their 
fellows, and the membership continued alowly to de- 
crease. Mr. Gilbert died before tho cloud broke. His 
death, which was totally unexpected, occurred 
December 28t4i, 1760. The "Northampton Mercury" 
says: 

"On Sunday laist, after a diort Illneas, from which 
he was in a great measure recovered, died sitting in 
his Chair, in the same placid Manner in which he lived, 
without the least Fang or Discomposure of Countenance, 
the Bev. Mr. GILBERT, aged 52, an eminent Dissenting 
Minister in this Town ; neonarkable for his Learning, 
Modesty, Evenness of Temii)er, and universal cSiarity. 
He has left an afflicted Widow, and two Daughtena; 
whose Loss- can only be known by Those, w(ho, among 
his other Virtues, had opportunities of observing his 
Conjugal and Parent«l Tenderness. He wars buried on 
Thursday Night, in the Presence of a very numerous 
Congregation ; when the Bev. Mr. ASHWOBTH, Master 
of the Academy at Daventry, spoke the Funeral Oration 
o'er the Grave in the most affecting Manner, and with 
the greatest Propriety. After which a Sermon (on 
Heb. xiii. 7) well adapted to the melancholy Occasion, 
wajs preached by the same Gentleman." 

The Church Book speaks of Mr. Gilbert as "this 
worthy Man." He published three special sermons, 
preached at Northampton Two were printed "at the 
earnest Bequest of the Congregation "as the title pages 
have it. A copy of each is in the Northampton Free 
Library. 



HENBY MATO. 

Again there was a difficulty in obtaining a pastor. 
Much was still expected from a minister who should 
venture to occupv Doddridge's pulpit: many came but 
none were called. Throughout 1761 the church was 
without a pastor, and the membership was still de- 
creasing. SuppHes came from various parts, chiefly 
from the Academy at Daventry. In 1761 was com- 
menced a still existing account book, and Trom this 
we find that Mr. Ashworth when he came received the 
usual fee of a guinea, but a student got nothing save 
a couple of siullings, apparently for putting up his 



horse. The only preacher the Church at all warmed to 
was the Ber. Henry Mayo, who at the age of seven and 
twenty left the Mile End Boad Academy for a trial 
at Castle Hill, Northampton. Apparently while the 
Northampton congregation was wavering he accepted 
the pastorate of the Nightingale Lane (Dhurch, London, 
and remained there till his death in 1793. He held 
the degrees of D.D. and LL.D. 



WILLIAM HEXTAL. 

The Church Book is entirely silent as to the in- 
vitation to the next minister, the Bev. William Hextal, 
of Sudbury, Sufffolk. He was the son of a Broughton 
farmer, and attended the Congregational Church at 
Kettering, over which Mr. Saunders ministered. 
Having a desire to enter the ministry he became a 
student under his pastor preparatoigr to his entering 
Dr. Doddridge's Academy at Northampton in 1732. On 
the completion of his studies in 1736 he settled at 
Creaton, but his ordination did not take place until 
April 26th, 1738, on which day, according to an 
extant certificate in the handwriting of Dr. Dod- 
dridge, he was " set apart to the pastoral office by 
prayer, fasting, and the imposition of our hands." In 
1752 he removed to Sudbury, and was succeeded by 
Mr. Warburton, who was assistant at Castle Hill to 
Mr. Gilbert. Mr. Hextal's stay at Sudbury was ter- 
minated through heated di£Ferences in his church over 
a Parliamentary contest; and he came to Northamp- 
ton in the middle of 1762 with some idea of taking 
over the academy then located at Daventry, but that 
was not to be. 

Mr. Hextal did not succeed much better at North- 
ampton than at Sudbury. After being a few years 
at Castle Hill he wa^ suspected of Arminian- 
ism, chiefly, it may be, because, following the precedent 
of Doddridge, he allowed Whitefield to occupy the 
pulpit at Castle Hill. This was on September Fth, 1767 
Arminianism, briefly, is the opposite to Calvinism, and 
is represented to-day, almost alone among dissenters, 
by the Wesleyans. Mr. Hextal was troubled not only 
with Arminianism, but with a serious and painful dis- 
order which frequently prevented his preaching. Some- 
times the attacks were so sudden that there was no 
time to procure a supply from Daventry Academy. 
Matters soon reached a climax. Mr. Hextal, in Septem- 
ber, 1773, expressed his willingness that the son of 
Dr. J. Winter should be invit^ to preach for three 
months, with a view, everyx)ne thought, of young 
Winter becoming assistant or co-paistor. Mr. Hextal 
at this time was receiving the moderate stipend of 

£5 a year only, and house rent free. He resided at 
> large three- storey house, now numbered 18 in 
Mary-street. A member of the Church and a relative 
of Mr. Hextal, Mr. Thomas Holmes, a tradesman in 
well-to-do circumstances, shortly before his death in 
1765 expressed the desire to give ZJ50 to ^^^ Church 
for a minister's house, and ^^50 to Doddridge's charity 
school. His widow respected his wishes, and the 
Church purchased the house. The total cost was. 



however, /290,' and the Church paying the £150, 
mortgaged the place for the ^£140. 



40 

The preaching of Mr. Winter proved extremely ac- 
ceptable, and the congregation began to increase; and 
at a Church meeting, at which a hundred men -were 
present, it was resolved, with only a single dissentient, 
to invite him to become " stated assistant." Some of 
the wealthier members of the congregation objected, 
and it was intimated to Mr. Winter before he left 
Northampton for a short sojourn in London, that the 
invitation to him was " quite disagreeable to them,'' 
and "very unkind" to Mr. Hextal. Mr. Jeremiah 
Bud«dell, the " Distributor of Stamps for tihe Counties 
of Northampton, Warwick, and Butland," residing at 
Nortlhamipbon and a member of the Churdh, wrote to Mr. 
Winter asking how he expected to be maintained with- 
out the aid of the " principal supporters." In this 
trying position. Dr. Wmter wrote to Mr. Hextal, re- 
c^uesting him to state candidly if he had any objec- 
tions to his son. Mr. Hextal rephed that he had not, 
adding, "As I hope I have Friends on both sides, I 
am determined not to interfere in this Affair.'^ Within 
a few hours of p^nnin^ this epistle, Mr. Hextal, for 
some reason or other, did interfere; and the Church, 
closing their ranks, took decisive action. They brought 
several charges against Mr. Hextal, all of which Mr. 
Budsdell said could be sunmied up in one, "That Mr. 
Hextal did not approve of Mr. Winter as assistant." 
The question of Congregationalism came in, the 
Church now regarding itself as absolutely Independent. 
Among the charges was this : " You have endeavoured 
to subvert the Discipline of the Church being inde- 
pendent, by endeavouring to set aside their Acts." 
Mr. Hextal replied to the charges, but it was too late 
for argument, and, notwithstanding a suggestion that 
all could unite in inviting a Mr. Thoroughgood, the 
Church adopted the necessarily distestefiU course of 
vindicating its independency by dismissing the pastor. 
The fight was a contest largely between members .of 
the Church and non-communicants. On Sunday, April 
16th, 1775, a Church meeting was held, when, the 
Church Books says : 

It was this Day agreed by a Majoritv of Eighteen 

Brethren of this Church to Dismiss the Bevd. Mr. 

Hextal from his Office as Pastor, Minister and 

Teacher. 

Then follow the names of 19 church members, all 
men. The subscribers, on the other hand, claimed the 
pulpit and sent formal intimation to the deacons and 
the chapel keeper that Mr. Hextal would preach at 
the usual time on the following Sunday, April 23rd. 
The deacons warned Mr. Hext^d against mt^ing any 
disturbance, and arranged that a Mr. Miller, of London, 
" a minister of good character," should preswh. " About 
ten Minutes before the usual Time of public worship, 
Mr. Miller went into the Pulpit, being introduced by 
the Majority of the Trustees. In about five Minutes 
Mr. Hextal, with several of his friends, came, and 
demanded the Pulpit, but being told 'he was legally 
dismissed,* he gave Notice that ' he should preach 
at the Green-Meeting in the Afternoon, and hoped 
his Friends would follow him, until they re- 
covered the Place by Law.*" Mr. Hextal then com- 
menced proceedings in the Court of King's Bench, 
but as the trust deed placed the right of " electing and 
placing and displacing a minister" in the "communi- 
cants " he abandoned the suit. ITiose who remained next 
turned their attention to the manse purchased with Mr. 



41 

Holmes^ ;£150 and ;^140 raised by mortgage. Of the 
twelve trustees appointed for the house, t-en signed the 
mortgage deed ; and it was discovered that on account 
of an informality these ten trustees were personally 
liable for the mortgage money and not the property. 
The church members insisted on having th« house; 
and Mr. Hextal's friends had to make the best termi 
they could. These terms were that Mr. Hextal should 
vacate t'he house, that each of the ten trustees (eight 
were of Mr. Hextal's party, including himself) sh<rald 
pay ^ lOs. each; and iJiat the ^^50 given for the 
Charity School, with £b interest, should be also handed 
over to the church. 

Besides using the colunms of ith« " Northampton 
Mercury" to air their differences, the parties to the 
quarrel printed large quarto pamphlets, published at a 
shilling each. The first was printed at the " Mercury " 
office. Athough published anonymously, it was palpably 
written by Mr. Jerenaiah Budsdell. He was not a 
clever debater and practically gave his case away by 
continually referring to "Mr. Hextal's friends" as 
" the principal persons in the congregation," and " the 
principal supporters of the minister"; and of lus 
opponents as " some paupers, some Apprentices, and 
many labourers and journeymen of different trades," 
some " in the lowest situations of life " indebted to 
" the principal subscribers " " for their daily bread," 
and so on. Mr. Hextal wrote the preface for this book. 
A great deal was made of visits to "the London 
Ministers," and a review of the book in the " Monthly 
Review " for July, 1775, led Dr. Gibbons, to whom " the 
plausible Budsdell" had written early in the con- 
troversy, to issue a modest sixpennypamphlet in rerfy. 
It is entitled "An Account of What Concern Dr. 
Gribbons has had in the late Transactions among the 
Protestant-Dissenters at Northampton, in which His 
Character is cleared from the unjust Censures that 
have been passed upon him. In a Letter to « Friend." 
Rudsdell's anonymous publication produced a reply 
compiled by several members of the church* Mr. 
Thomas Buxton, a deacon — ^many members of the family 
lie in the chapel and burial ground — ^had the chief haiicl 
in it. Then came a rejoinder from Mr. Budsdell, who 
set out by admitting the authorship of the first pam- 
phlet, and concluded by appealini? for subscriptions for 
the new chapel about erecting in Kingshead-lane, now 
King- street. 

Mr. Hextal, still preaching at the chapel on the Green, 
took a considerable portion of the congregation and a 
good number of the members with him. The Chapel 
was originally used by the Strict Baptists, and after- 
wai^s by tho Wesfcyans. Wesjiey several times 
preached there. After the Castle Hill Church had 
duly admondsluad thosr^ who absonted them- 
selves to follow Mr. Hextal, it cut them off. 
On January 21st, 1776, it was decided that eight 
members were "no longer looked upon as standing in 
a relation to the Church." Among these eight was 
"Mary Doddridge," a lady whose relationship, if any, 
with Dr. Doddridge, is unknown. She was not his 
daughter Mary, for she was already married to Mr. 
Humphreys at Tewkesbury, where her mother and two 
unmarried sisters were also livmg. In the next month, 
February, thirteen, including Mrs. Hextal and Jeremiah 
Budsdell, were so cut off; in March, seven; and in 



42 

April three — in all 31. Mr. Hextal's friends opened iheir 
new chapel on October 17th, the same year (1777). 
Mr. Hextal only preached in the building one Sun- 
day: he dyin^ on November 4th, aged 66. His 
memorial tablet in King-sftreet Church . says 
that he "remarkably exhibited m his life what he 
warmly recommended from the pulpit, — ^unfeigned piety 
to Grod, and universal benevolence to men." An oil 
portrait otf Mr. Hextal is preserved in the vestry of 
Doddridge Churoh. 

JOHN HOBSEY. 

In August, 1776, the Church ^ave a unanimous call 
to the Rev. John Horsey, of Rmgwood, Hampshire ; 
and in February of the following year renewed the 
invitation. Mr. Horsey, who had been to Northamp- 
ton several times, came again, and on March "Snd 
handed to the Church a letter in which he signified his 
acceptance of the Church's call. As he writes in the 
(/hurch book, he was " solemnly separated to the 
Pastorsd oflfice, over the Church of Christ assembling 
at Castle Hill, Northampton, on May 4, 1777." 

Mr. Horsey remained pastor for just over fifty years 
after his ordination, a half century fraught with the 
greatest changes, in all probability, that the world has 
ever seen in a similar period. Activity in the region 
of men's minds was discernible everywhere, in 
every domain of thought, in religion, in politics, in 
T^hiianthroiiv. ;md in trade, conunerce, and invention. 
Mr. Horsey connected as it were, by his fifty years 
pastorate, the old order and the new; the ending of 
narrow religious bigotry and the dawn of freedom of 
thought and speech in all the Churches. Of Mr. 
Horsey's personal history not much is known. He 
was of essentially a retiring disposition, he never 
liked to talk, nor to hear, of his own goodness ; and 
he carefully concealed all that it was possible to con- 
ceal about himself. He was a quiet, God fearing man, 
with a gentle pleasing way about him; quite in- 
capable of exciting much fervour over anything. For 
a time his sermons proved attractive, and the chapel 
was soon much better filled than it had been for a 
considerable time. When Mr. Horsey commenced the 
pastorate Castle Hill had diminished to a membership 
of 64 only; and under him it began, though very 
slowly, to increase. In the year 1789 Thomas Bel- 
sham, the tutor at Doddridge's Academy at 
Daventry, embraced Unitarianism and resigned his 
post. Mr. Horsev was selected as his successor, and 
the Academy in the first days of 1790 was removed to 
Marefair, Northampton. Already the students were 
saturated with the SocinianiSm of Mr. Belsham, 
Socinianism being practically the negation of the 
Arian doctrine of an Eternal Son. Mr. Horsey, what- 
ever his own views, was far too mild mannered to take 
much pains to eradicate this particular form of 
heresy; and consequently it was not long before 
people began to suspect 'that the removal to North- 
ampton had improved but very little the orthodoxy 
of the Academy. Mr. Horsey was by no means a 
Socinian, and some commended him for his judicious 
and exemplary mode of instructing, "inasmuch as he 
was so anxious not to give an undue bias to his youth- 
ful auditors, that it was very difl&cult to ascertain in 
the lecture-room his own precise views on the more 
controverted subjects." Mr. Horsey in 1798 secured 



43 



as an assistant tutor "a young gentleman from Scot- 
land," who, says the '-Missionary Magazine" for 
August 20th of that year, ^^ soon found the state of 
the seminary so bad, and the rejection of the peculiar 
doctrines of the Gospel so universal, open, and avowed, 
that sacrificing his salary to his conscience he thought 
it necessary to propose to the trustees its total dis- 
solution, as the only remaining expedient by which 
the evil, now become inveterate, could be exter- 
minated." The Academy was broken up, but was 
re-started the next year in Hertfordshire, and now 
exists in London; and Mr. Horsey left Marefair for 
the minister's house in Mary-street. 

About the time the Academy was dissolved, a Sunday- 
ischool, the first Nonoomfoirmist Sunday-school in North- 
ampton, was started. It was a joint at£fair, maintained 
by members of Castle Hill, College Street, and Kings- 
well Street (Quakers). The sdholars .were few, only 15 
or 20, and two teachers were paid to look after t/hem. 
Where the ^school was held is unknown, but the whole 
(batch of children were taken in rotation to the Sunday 
services at the three different cha.peh. At the com- 
mencement, we learn from the Bev. W. J. Bain and Mr. 
John Taylor's tracts on Sunday-schools, it was usual to 
give each of these scholars a halfpenny every Sunday 
if two attendances were made and the conduct of the 
scholar wa-s good. This custom, however, was found to 
place temptation in the way of the chtildren, who fre- 
quf^ntly spent the money for sweets, then called 
" Slickers," on tiieir way home. In consequence the 
money was retained until aiter the quarterly examina- 
tion, which was conducted by one of the three ministers 
of the three churches in rotation. This arrangement 
was oontrinued until 1810 or 1811, when a school for 
girls at Castle Hill was esiabli^ed. Mr. Horsey'a 
daughter, and Misis Taylor and Miss Haines undertook 
the manageonent, each conducting the school for one 
Sunday in turn. The teachers also attended, like the 
superintend'ents, once in three weeks only. The girls 
assemlbled in clasises in the gallery, but thie writing cla&s 
was accommodated in the taible pew in the warm 
weather and in the vestry in the winter. Prizes were 
given every half year. SchooLjoonas were built for the 
scbtolars at the back of the chapel in 1827. 

As the completion neared of the fifty years of Mr. 
Horsey's pastorate, arrangements were made to give 
Mr. Horsey an assistant, for Mr. Horsey was so feeble 
that for monitihs he was unable to conduct any of the 
services. Mr. Charles James Hyatt was selected. 
May 12th, 1827. The Bev. B. I»oyd Edwards, pastor of 
King Street Church, preached the funeral sermon, just 
as he had preached the funeral sei«non for Mrs. Horsey 
two years before. Mr. Ed'wardis, in aooordance with 
the written request of Mr. Horsey, refrained fnom giving 
in his sermon any particulars whatever of Mr. Horsey's 
life or oharacter. Mr. Horsey published two sermons, 
one on infant baptism and the other on the death of 
the Bev. Samuel King, pastor of Welford Congregational 
Cbnr(*h. who died ait Northampton in 1788. The year 
after the death of Mr. Horsey, a series of "Lectures 
to Young Persons," written by him, was published for 
the benefit of hi.s children. During the fifty years of 
his pastorate 170 members were added to the church, 
but the losses were more; and once a^in a ministry 



44 

had •nded with the memberthip dimini«bed. An oil 
porfcrait of Ikfo. Honey ic in the possemion of hi« 
grandson, Mr. John Honey, of Dallington. 



CHABLES JAMES HTATT. 

The Bev. Charles James Hyatt was ordained pastor 
of the Church on Wednesday, S^>tember 26th, 1827. 
The Church Book says that since Septemher in the 
previous year, from which date Mr. Horsey had been 
unable to conduct any public service, the pulpit was 
filled by neightK)uring ministers until January, when 
Mr. Hyatt came. ** Mter having laboured during seve- 
ral weeks with acceptance, he was requested to con- 
tinue with us on probation for the Office of Copastor, 
to which request he acceded. On July 26th, 1827, 
the Members of the Church met, when in consequence 
of the Death of their former Pastor, they resolved to 
invite the Bevd. C. J. Hyatt to exercise that office 
amongst them. The call was shortly afterwards pre- 
sented & accepted and on the 26th of September he 
was publicly recognised as the Pastor.'' The Bev. 
William Gray, of College Street, took part in the 
ordination services. ^^It was a most delightful and 
interesting service," wrote Mr. Hyatt, '' nearly fifty 
ministers were present and the impressions then made, 
will it is hoped, never wear away." The Northamp- 
tonshire ministers had come to Northampton to 
attend their half-yearly meeting the following day. 
Mr. Hyatt was the son of the Bev. Charles Hyatt, 
a reformed shoemaker, pastor of Ebenezer Chapel, 
Shadwell, London. He was only 22 years of age, and, 
being fired with the fervour of youth, his preaching 
was suoh that no one oould doubt his position on the 
Socinian question. He belonged to the orthodox party. 
Mr. Horsey's Socinian friends had already decided on 
forming another Church; and at Mr. Hyatt's first 
Church meeting, on November 2nd, 1827, the follow- 
ing letter was read : 

We the undersigned Members of the Church of 
Christ, assembling in Castle Hill Meeting, having in 
obedience to the dictates of our consciences umted 
in the formation of a society of Christians, whose 
worship is directed solely to the one God, the 
Father, aereeabl^ to the express injunctions of our 
Saviour, deem it proper to withdraw, and hereby 
beg leave to announce our withdrawn:! ent from the 
worship and communion of the Church to w4uch we 
have hitherto belonged, on account of the discord- 
ance existing between the mode of worship as there 
practised, and that which we believe to nave been 
enjoined and observed by Christ and his apostles. 
This was signed by nine members, including a daugh- 
ter of Mr. Horsey. These nine members and some of 
the other subscribers to the funds of Castle Hill started 
the Unitarian Church now worshipping in King^street. 
The Church first met in an upper room at the "Foun- 
tain," now the " Criterion," in feradshaw-street. Thence 
they went to the present premises in King-street, 
formerly the Old Methodist Chapel. The seces- 
sion brought down the membership of Castle Hill 
to fifty; but Congregationalists regarded the secession 
as fortunate rather than otherwise, for "it removed 
the taint of serious error." Soon afterwards, on 
January 29th, 1829, the Church, "anxious for the 
maintenance of Christian discipline and for the pro- 
motion of its spiritual prosperity," renewed the Church 



45 

Covenant of 1604, and added teren clantes declarini^ 
the Church to be Congregational in order and govern- 
ment. Mr. Hjatt laboured art Northampton '* faith- 
fully and affectionately for lix years and three months," 
more than doubling the Church membership. He left 
to become assistant to his father at the Shadwell 
Church. He preached his farewell sermon on March 
31»t, 1833. In London Mr. Hyatt was everything the 
people desired. His father died in June, 1846, and 
Mr. Hyatt followed him to the other world only nine 
months later. The branch Sunday Schools at St. 
James'-end were commenced in 1830, and Commerciftl* 
street Church wae formed by memlbers Irom Castle 
HiU and King- street in 1829, both during Mr. Hyatt's 
pastorate. An engraved portrait of Mr. Hyat4; appears 
in the " Congregational Msgazine '■ for 1834. 



JOHN BENNETT. 

Shortly after Mr. Hyatt's resignaition, says the 
Ohurah Book, Mr. John Bemiett, from Braunton, in 
Devonshire, visited the Church, and preached on ap- 
probation. His services met with considerable accept- 
ance and eventually the Church, again»t the strong 
opposition of a small number of members, invited 
him to become their pastor. This invitation he, 
accepted in a letter, darted July 11th, 1833. Mr. 
Bennett was the son of a soldier, and was bom at 
Wellington, Somersetshire. His education was only 
such as was to be obtained at the barrack school. 
Though his father was a Unitarian, young Bennett 
seems early to have become an active member of the 
Congregational Church at Wellington, teaching in 
the Sunday-school and preaching in the villages. 
Sometimes he walked more than thirty miles on 
a Sunday in the pursuit of this village preaching. 
His labours, it is recorded, were abundant and accej]^ 
able; and when still young he undertook the duties 
of a home missionary, ministering first at Comb- 
martin and then at Barnstaple, l^ence he went to 
Braunton as pastor, and from there to Castle Hill, 
Northampton. He was publicly recognised at North- 
ampton on September ^th, 1833, the anniversary of 
Mr. Hyatt's ordination. At that time the Church 
membership was 106. The "Congregational Year 
Book " for 1871 says : He was " an able minis>ter of 
the New Testament." Distinctly "Evangelical" and 
"Protestant," he was no bigot. "He waa a laborious 
student; yet, respectable as were his theological 
aittainments, and extensive as was his acquaintance 
with English literature, he lamented to the day of 
his death that he had not enjoyed the advantages of 
a college training. His large and loving heart, his 
sociability, his fidelity as a friend, attracted and at- 
tached the aged and the young. In the school-room, 
in the Bible-class, in the Mutual Improvement 
Society, in the Inquiriers' Meetin-g, in the social circle, 
with the sick and the dying, he was alike useful 
and acceptable. Those who did not know him thought 
him, at times, fiery and fierce; but there was neither 
warmth nor venom in his nature." Mr. Bennett's 
pastorate extended over 25 years. In consequence 
of ill-health, he resigned his charge on January 20bh, 
1859. The Church numbered 160 members when he 
left, and with the Sunday - schools, was in a proa- 
perous s>tat-e. When he resigned the pastorate, ;^500 



vfM raised for him ^t Northampton, members of 
tbll sects and parties contribating. He vrent to 
Slouffh, where he resided for some years, and finished 
his days at Dalston* where he died after, a long and 
painful illness on April 10th, 1870. 



THOMAS AE50LD. 

The Bev. Thomas Arnold, who, now more than 
eighty years of age, is «itiU an active and rigorous 
force in Nonconformity in Northampton, succeeded 
Mr. Bennett in 1360. In 1879 the Eev. John Gates 
was chosen assistant pastor, the member»hip of the 
Church haying greatly increased; and in 1882, Mr. 
Arnold having resigned, Mr. Oavbes succeeded hlm«. 
In 1883 Mr. Gates left Northampton for Beading; 
and in 1884, >the Bev. J. J. Cooper, the present 
pastor, was elected by the Church in his place. These 
three honoured ministers are -s-till alive ; and all three 
are more or less known to CongTegationalis>ts, especi- 
ally throughout this district. The present is, there- 
fore, nob the proper (time for an exhaustive biography 
of either to appear in the columns of a daily news- 
paper. We purpose only glancing at the lives of 
these three, expressing the fervent hope that each 
will long be spared to pursue his happy course of 
ministering to others. 

Mr. Arnold is descended from a Puritan settler in 
Ireland, who was one of three brothers an the Army of 
William HI. His parents were (Moravians, living in the 
Settlement at Gracehill, corm-ty Antrim. Early in Idle 
he went as a town misrionary to (Mlancbester ; aind tJhence 
to Doncaster Deaf-{Mute Institute. After joining tihe 
Congregational Ohurcih, und'ei' the pastorate of Dr. 
McOall, he was for a short time a student at Bo>tiherhBxa 
College. Whilst a student he supplied tihe English 
Church ait Hamlburgh for three months. L^tving col- 
lege, he undietrtook the pastorate of tjhie Church at 
Burton-on Trent. From Burton he -wenit to Smethwick ; 
and while at this latter place he received an invitafaion 
frcm the churdh at Bahnain, Sydney, New South Wales. 
As the health of Mrs. Arnold (formerly Mias Sarah 
Simpson, of Manchester) 'wa4S failing, he accepted iJttb 
invitation. In Australia he successfully engaged in 
the educatdon of deaf mutes. He tells us that while 
at the Antipodes, he was smitten with aerious illness, 
premature old age indteed ^emed coming upon him. 
Instead, there is to-day no one in Northampton of hia 
nge as vigorous in mind and body as he is. He wa« 
ordered by his doctor to leave Australia, and he re- 
turned to England via Palestine. Very shortly aftef 
his return he was invited to the pasfborate of Castle Hill 
Church, on June 20bh, 1860, an invitation he accepted, 
and he commenced his pastortate on August 19th. His 
preaching and ministry were so acceptable, that 
the congregation pretty soon grew too large for the 
chapel. There was nothing for it but to enlarge 
the building. Mr. Arnold was one of those who 
insisted on the old chapel, on account of its associa- 
tions, being preserved instead of a new building 
being erected m its place. Fortunately his view pre- 
vailed, and the chapel was enlarged, oiJfe end, the 
pulpit end was taken out, and the mcrease was made 
on that side. Schools were also built; and the name 



47 

of the Church wa« formally changped from *^ Castle 
ffill" to "Doddridge." This was in 1862. The cost 
was j^3,108 and v^,161 lOs. was subscribed. The same 
year saw the erection of the Sunday-school-rooms for 
the Branch at St. James's-end. Jhe Primrose Hill 
Branch School was commenced in 1865. It was first 
held in a cottage, which was also used as a Preaching 
Station. In 1878 the Sunday-school at Castle Hill 
was again enlarged. In 1879, after the Bey. John 
Gates was appointed co-pastor, the member- 
ship of the Church had increased to 289* 
and the Sunday-school scholarship, including 
the school held in the then recently erected Chapel 
and School in Kingsthorpe Hollow, to 1,039. Mr. 
Arnold's resignation took effect on July 1st, 1882, 
upon which date Mr. Oates entered upon the sole 
pastorate. On June 25th there was a public gather- 
mg at the Chapel, at which Mr. Arnold was given 
several presents, including ;£450, a timepiece, and 
an addre«« from the Church. During Mr. Arnold's 
22 years' ministry, the alterations and additions to 
the chapel and the agencies of the Church had cost 
about ;^7,000. 

Though Mr. Arnold left the pastorate, he remains to 
this da-y an acceptable occasional preacher. But if 
that be possible he has been engaged in even higher work 
than the pastorate of a Christian church. Doddridge 
sough* to take the Gospel to the heathen : Mr. Arnold 
has devoted the best energies of his nature and many 
years of his life in taking life and hope, and instruction 
to the deaf and diunb. For years he has been one of 
the foremost men in England in the grand work of 
educating deaf mutes. In this he has been most suc- 
cessful, not only in educating deaf mutes themselves, 
buit in facilitating the acquirements of the best methods 
of teaching by teachers of deaf mutes. Adopting the 
oral method, he has virtuadly eriven speech to the 
dumb and hearing to the deaf. His pupils have risen 
to high ranks in scholarship. The works Mr. Arnold 
has published on the subject are masterpiece» of ex- 
perience, judgment, knowledge, and discernment; and 
his success with his pupils has demonstrated that his 
practice is fully in keeping with his theories and his 
professions. His Manual on Oral Teaching is the 
recognised text book on the su'bject. 



JOKN GATE®. 

The Bev. John Oates is an Englishman by parentage 
th-ough a South African hy birth. His fathier and 
mother were Methodists, and the son, wfhen yet 
a mere lad, took delight in teadi'^g native chil- 
dren in the Sunday - schools. Then he became 
an acceptable local preacher in the diamond fields. 
He was accepted as a student for the ministry by the 
Congregational Union of South Africa and was sent to 
New College, London. After a brilliant course there 
he was a^out to return to Africa when Doddridsre Church 
invited him to assist Mr. Arnold. He was intensely 
beloved b'- his congregation; and when Mr. Arnold 
resigned he was most cordially called to the full 
pastorate. This he accepted, and was ordained on 
March 2nd, 1882. He remained sole pastor, however, 
only twelve months, and his resignation in the fol- 
lowing March was a sore disappointment to the Church. 



48 

He went in 1883 to Beading^, where he sncceMfnlljr 
filled a pastorate for six years. His health failings 
him he accepted a call to Chriat Church (Congrega- 
tional), Soathsea, wihere he remains, fie is de- 
scribed as "a t cultured minister, full of fer- 
vour, and abounding in earnest thought.'' When 
aib Northampton he delivered an important lecture 
on ''Tlhe Pilgrim Fathers," w4ii€<h was aftenwarda pub- 
litfAied in Ii&. Taybr'a Series of NortSiampton^hiTe 
Tracts. He has also issued a vviluable volume " Studiea 
in Tennyson,'* l^e title of which fully ex{>]ains its nature. 



JOSEPH i. OOOPEB. 

The Rev. Jos€f)h J. Cooper is a ratiive otf King's Lynn. 
Brought up ad a carpenter, he taught in the Primitive 
Methodist Sunday-^cbool, was '< planned" as ao ex- 
horter, and, removing to London, was induced to go to 
Eyneshury, Huntingdonshire, to assist a mibdater who 
was unwell. From Eyne«rbury he was sent to preadi 
at Maidstone, and thence to Ofheilmsfoiiid, where he 
broke from the Methodists and joined the Gkmgrega- 
tionalisrtA, for whom he preached. Offering himself to 
ttie London Missionary Society he was sent to the 
academy at Weston-super-Afore^ and after being or- 
dfldned he went as a missioniery to New Am-sterdam, in 
British Guiana. He was soon taken ill, and left for a 
turn of preaching in Australia, Scotland, and Wales. 
Then he accepted tihe first pastorate of the English- 
speaking Congregational Ohurdh at Corwen. While 
he was " supplying " at Penmaenmawr, Mr. Arnold 
'heard him preach, and this led to his beiii^ 
!iniV!i<ted to Doddridge Ohurdi. He accepted tiie 
inrvdtatiion on November 10th, 1884., and waa 
publicly recognised on the 11th of the following 
mon^h. Mr. Cooper from tUe first wcks. greatly 
admired by the oongregattion, and the steady progi«esa 
in membership which had been jgomg on during the 
three preceding pastorates hAs continued under his 
ministry. In 1880 the vestil^e to the chapel was 
built; and in 1892 the church at St. James'-end was 
formed. Nothwithstanding, the membership of 
Doddridge Church is now larger than at any pre- 
vious period in the history of the Church. At the 
end of 1894 there were 447 Church members, 134 
Sunday-school teachers, and 1,736 scholars. Much 
work has been done by the agencies connected with 
the church during Mr. Cooper's pastorate; and 
it is a matter lor deep regret that itiie bodd sdheme put 
fiorward for duly celebrating {he Bicentenary of the 
chapel by ad;vancing the cauae of Cooigregatfonalasm 
throughout the town has not met with greater support. 
It would have been a fitting testimony to his profitable 
ministry. Mr. Cooper has twice visited the Holy Land 
during his pastorate of Doddridge Ohapel-~the second 
time only t^a year, in company with Mr. Mayzes, an 
evangelist, whose liie, edited by Mr. Cooper, has just 
been pubJished. Mr. Cooper is a staunch teetotaler; 
ar.d he has held the im-portant ofiKces in thte Good Tem«* 
plars of Grand Chaplain of Wales (twice) and Grand 
Chaplain of the Ilnglish Grand Lodge (elected when 
Grand Lodge visited Northampton in 1893). He has 
also been Chaplain of the Ncothamptooshire District 
IxKige. 



flppenHix ^* 



PBEAOHING lilOBNOBS, 1672. 

The followigf are exialmif Preaching Licences granted 
mkler the Indulgtoce of Gharles 11. (peige 6) rel*atin^ 
to Nofiii]am{>tooMixre. Thefy eire to b^ found at the 
PabUc Seoord Office (Staibe Fiafpera, Obas. II. Dom., 
EoAory Book, Vol 38, a.) 

INDULGENCE. 
Obarles, ius. To all Majors, Bailiffs, Ckm9taible« and 
other Our Oiliceirs and Mimsters Oivill and Miliitary, 
iRiioini^bmay ooncem. 

Greeting. In Purduanoe of our Dedaratuon of the 
15th March, 167}, wee doe hereby permit and Hceuce 
Rich. Hoofee to be « Teacher of the Coogregationi allowed 
by us in his House in Northamptoo for the use of such 
as do D0<> oonforme to the Church of Eufifland v-ho are 
of the fiersuation commonly called Presbyterien, with 
forttie^ iicence aod permission to him the seddi Ric^h. 
Hook to teach in ecy other p]!ace licenced by us ac- 
cording to our said declaration. Given at our Court at 
WhdtehaU the 13 day of May an the 24th year of Oar 
Beigne, }672. 
The howse of Bich. Hooke in Northampton Pr. Meeting 

Place. 13 May. 
The howse of Bob. Mastey in Northton, Congr. 
Like [Licence ?] for Sam. Wolfords'' how«e in Nortihtoo. 

22 July. 
The Bame of Bob. Marsey in Northampton towne 

Congr Sep 5th. 
The howse of John Clark of ye Townd (of Noithampton 

pr. 
The house of Valeoitinie Cbadock an Northaonpton pr. 
The Countesse of Exeter's howse in Little Brittaine 

licensed to be a Preb. Meeting Peace. 22 Apr. 72. 
Liceme to Dr. Thamoa Jaocnabe to be a Preet. 

Teacher in the Countess of Exoiu hoilae Little Brit- 
taine. London 22 Apr 72. 
License to Wm. Asninwatl to 'be a Pr. Teooher in the 

howse of Bichara Birchall in the Parish of Winwick. 

1 Ma(r 72. 
The howse of Widow Cooper in Kettering, Northampton, 

licensed for a Congr Meetang Place 1 May 72. 
The howsei of Bobert Goiy ixL Isham licensed for a 

Congr Meeting Kace 1 Maiy 72. 
Licence to John Baynard to be a Oongi* Teaohor in the 

howse of Bob. Guy in IsWn Northiampton 1 May. 
Licence to i John Maydwell to bei a Oongr Teacher in 

4;he 'howee of Widow Cooper on ' Eeibtering North- 

ampton, 1 May, 72. ' 

Licence to Henry Searle to be a Pr. Teacher in the 

howse of the Lady Pi<;kebdng at Tichmareh, Northenxp- 

ton, 8 May. 
The howse of the Lady Pickeorine ait Tich Marsh) North- 
ampton, Pr. Meetiiig Place. 8 May. 



50 



The howse of Susanna Ponder in BdHhwell, Northampboti. 

Congr Meeting Place, B May. ^^ 

Thd liowse oi Thomas BrownoM^ to BottiweU, Nortb- 

ampttm, Owigr Meeting- Place. 8 May. 
I>ioJoe to 'rijomaa Bro™«^ tobe » .C^ggT, ^fjj^ 

in 'his howse and SuisaiMMi Panders in RotshveH. 8 

Th!^howse of JoiImi. Ovejton in Dancotty, NorUiampton, 
Congr. Meeting Place. 8 May, 72. „ , . ., 

licea^ to Ralph Punn to be a O^n^^- T««h€T m the 
howse of Joihn Overton m Dancott, NorthamptOBL » 

The Howse of Ricii. Barnes in WeUingboroo^ North- 
ampton, Congr. Mteetttn^ Place. 13 May. 

The howse of Vincent Alsop ai Gedington, ISorthampton, 
OongT. Meeting Place. 13 Miay. . 

Stickland Negus to be a Congr. Teajher ^ Eich. 
Ba.rne« howse in WeHiingboron^h, Nortihton. 13 May. 

The howse of John Morton- in Bingsteaid, Northton, Pr. 
Moetinfir Place. 13 May. . 

Licence to Vinoenb Alsop to be a Oon^. Teacher in his 
house in GediiigtXMD, Norlbtoo. 13 ^y. ^^.^^ 

Licence to John WiUes to be a Pr. Teacher mjhel bowse 
of John MoTtton i-n Bingstoad, Northton. 13 May. 

Licence to Fran: Dandy to be a Pr. Teacher m the 
howse of Margarett Brooke in Okley Magna, North- 

The howse of Margarett Brooke in Okley Magna, North- 
ton. Pr. Meetings Place. 13 May. „ ^ . ^, 

Licence to Bob. Ekins to be a Congr. Jeacher ui the 
howse of EUz. Mulsoe in Twywell, Northton. 13 May. 

The howse of Eliz. Mulsoe in Twywell, Northton. Con- 
gregational Meeting Place. 13 May. 

The howse of Anne Elmes in Warmmgton. Northton 
Pr. Meeting Place. 16 May. , ^t ^i. 

The house of Matthew Orlebar in Polebrooke, Northanap- 
ton Pr. Meeting Place. 16 May. 

The howse of John Maydwell in Kettermg, Northton 
Presb. Meeting Place. 16 May. ^^^^. ^ _ ., 

The howse of Sam. Whitbye in Great Addmgton, North- 
ton Pr. Meeting Place. 16 May. 

The howse of Bob. Maunsell m Newton, Northton Pr. 
Meeting Place. 16 May. « . . .^ v 

Licence to John Hewlett to be a Pr. Teacher m the howse 
of Ann Elmes in Warmington, Northton. 16 May. 

Licence to Nathan Whiting to be a Congr. Teacher in the 
howse of the Lady Pickering in Tichmerah, Northton. 

16 May. „ m ,. . u- 

Licence to Matthew Orlebar to be a Pr. Teacher m his 

howse in Polebrook, Northton. 16 May. 
Licence to John Courtman to be a Congr. Teacher in the 

howse of John Mansell in Thorp Malsor, Northton. 

25 May. 
The howse of John Mansell in Thorp Malsor, Northton 

Congr. Meeting Place. 25 May. 
The howse of Bich. Adkins in Wellingborough, North- 
ton, Congr. Meeting Place. 25 May. 
The howse of Edw. Brookes in Brigstock, Northton, 

Congr. Meeting Place. 25 May. 
The howse of John Mansell in Newton, Northton, Congr. 

Meeting Place. 25 May. 
The howse of Thomas Andrews in Meeres A^hby, 

Northton, Pres. Meeting Place. 25 May. 
Licence to Thomas Andrews to be a Pr. Teacher in hia 

howse in Meeres Ashby, Northton. 25 May. 
The howse of John Brookes' in Wolluarton, Nor^thfton, Pr. 

Meeting Pliftoe. 25 May. 



51 

Licence to Tboimas Edmonds tc he a Prevb. Teaclher 
in tihe liQw^«r of Jolm Brookes ia Wolluaiton, North* 
ton. 25 M«y. 
Licence to Thomas Brett ibo be a Fr. Teacher in the 
ibame oi John Monice in Wolluston, Northton. 25 
May. 
The b«me of John Morrice in Wolluston, Nortliton, 

Pr. Meetin<g Place. 25 May. 
The howse of Christopher Stanley in Brafield Green, 

Nopbhrton, Pr. Meeting Place 25 May. 
LioetDce to OhiistopQier id^banley to be a Pr. Teacher in 

his howse in Brafield' Green, Northton. 25 May. 
The howse of Walter Slye, in Dosthope, Northton, for 

Pr. Meeting Place. 10 June. 
LiceDce to Joihn WoiWh to be a Pr. Teacher in the 
howse of John Billing in Weedon, Northampton. 10 
June. 
The howse of John Billing in Weedon, Northton Pr. 

10 June. 
Like [Licence?] for tihe Ihowise of Widow Manly in 

Davenitry, NoKthitoo.. 10 June. 
Licence to John Cavie to be a Pr. Teacher in Widow 

Manly's howse in Daventry, Northton. 10 June. 
The howse of Edw. Hardy, Esq., in Adson, Northton, 

Pt. 10 June. 
Licence to Bob. Allen to be a Pr. Teacher in the 
howse of Edw. Hardy in Adson, Northton. 10 
June. 
The lH>wse of Bob. Bogers in Wappenbiam, Narthtoo, 

Pr. 10 June. 
Licence to Boib. Rogers to be a Pr. Teacher in ibis 

>bowse in Wappenlhdm, Northton. 10 June. 
The ihowse or barne of Jamesi Cole in Titoh Marah, 

Northton, Congr. 10 June, 
licence to Geo. Fouler to be a Oongr. Teadber in the 
howse or Bame of James Cole in Titch Marsh, 
Northton. 10 June. 
The howse of Mr. Woleston in Busden, Northton, 

Congr. 
Like (Xicence] for the 'house of Joihn Hawityn in Daven- 
try, Northton. 
Like [Ldcence?] for the bowee of Wm. Manley in 

Daventry. 
The bowse of Baxter Slyes at Eyebury, NOTtJbfcon, Pr. 

29 June. 
Like [Licence?] for the Ihowste of Alexander Blake at 

St. Martins, Nortlbiton. 29 June. 
The ihowse of William Shipips tat Peterborougih, North- 
ton, Pr. 
Like [Licence?] for the howse of Bamaby Eoiowles in 

Peterborough. 
Like for the howse of John Bladwick there [Peter- 
borough.] 
Licence to Wm. Oliver of Na<raingt)on, Northton, 

Grail [general] Pr. 
Like [Licence] for Wm. Garrgltte ibowse at Meres 

Ashby, Northton. 22 July. 
The howse of Balph Pune at Greens Norton, Northton, 

Pr. 22 July. 
Like [Licence HI for Bie'beoca Mulsoe*s <how<se at Greens 

Norton. 22 July. 
The bowse of Charles Gore att Toaster in Northamp- 

tVHis(hxre, Cong. July 25. 
The howse of Tho. ffownes att Owndle in Northamp- 
tonshire pr. Aug 10th. 
The bowse of Bob. Wild of Owndle in Northampton- 
shire pr. Aug 10th. 



62 

Licence to Robert Wild to be pr Teach att his owlie 

howse above sd Au^st 10th. 
The howse of Tho. Aldwinckle att Wilberston in North- 

amsh Gongr. Aug 10th. 
Licence to John Seaton to be a Presb. genall Teacher 

att Islip in Nortbsh Aug 10th. 
The house of Bichard Basbnry att Onndle Northsh 

Con, Aug 10th. 
Licence to the said Bichard Basbmy to be a Gong. 

Teaohcr there. 
The house of Tho,. Heycock of Sulgrare in North- 

amptonsh pr. Aug 10. 
Licence to Daniel Williams of Daventrj in North- 

ampsh to be a Presfby Teacher August 10th. 
The house of James Gave, of Daventry in Northamptsh 

pr Aug 10. 
The house of Wm. Oliver of Nassington in North- 

amptonsh pr. Sep. 5. 
Licence to Wm. Oliver to be a pr. Teacher att ye place 

above <aid. 
The hoi'se of Matthew Gierke of Lythe Bowden North- 

«mpsh. pr. 
The howse of Mary Briton of Oundle in Northamptsh. 

pr. 
The house of Tho. Broome of Eingsdiffe in North- 

amptonsh. Gongr. 
The house of Isaack Spenee of Peterborough in North- 

tonsh. Anabap. 
The house of William Holt of Eye in Northampton&h 

Sep. 30 anababt. 
Licence to Edward Pajrton of Eye in Northamptonsh 

to be a Anabt. Teacher Sep. 30. 
Licence to Christopher Bell to be a Anabt. Teacher of 

Peterborow in Northamptonsh Sep 30. 
The house of Henry Steele of Welford in Northampsh 

pr. 
The house of John Oliver of Nassmgton in Northtonsh 

pr. 
The house of Bich. Besbury of Oundle in Northtonsh 

CongT. 
The house of John Neale of Tarley in Northamptonsh 

Congr. 
Licence to Tho Perkins to be a Pr. genell Teacher of 

Kettering in Northampton}^ Octob. 28th. 
Licence to Wm. ffloyd to be a Gongr Teacher at the 

bouM of Wm. Wilis of Woodford in Northamps>h. 
Licence to Twyford Worthington to> 4}e a pr. Teacher 

at his owne house at Higham Ferrers in Northamp- 

tosh. Octr. 28 bh. 
Licence to John Sarjant to be a bapt. Teach of Eye in 

Northampton»h Octo. 28. 
The house of Sam. St>ux;ge0 of Sibbertdiffe in North- 
amptonsh pr. 
The ibo*use of AlTeni Umzey of Davelntry in NortflMxnp- 

ton^rh. pr. 
The house of Wm. Butler of Aahley io Northamp« 

(tonsih. 
Licence to George Bidbanke of Denton Ooogr. Teacher 

NoHibeimptonisJh. 
The houee of John. Sheppetp of Fo-sootb in NoirthamptonsJh. 
Licence to Thomas Oarae of Sibler dn Nortbamptosh. 

Bapt. Teacter. 
Licence to Wm. Butter to be a pr Teacher of Ashley in 

Noirtibemptonsh. Jan. 13. 
Lioence to Tho Game Bapt. Teoicher of Sibbon an 

Noi^toQsih. 
The house of Wm. Butler of Asihiby in Northamptonsh 

pr. 



63 



THOMAS SHBPHEBD. M,A. 

I have examined in the Taylor Collection, Nortliamp- 
ton, a volnme of singular interest. It consists of 
several works, chiefly by Thomas Shepherd, at one time 
minister of the Meeting, Castle Hill, Northampton. 
These had been in the possession of John Moore, 
minister (1700-1726) of College Lane ChapeJ, in the 
same town; and were, from internal evidence, under 
his own direction, bound in one volume. The volnme 
contains in printed matter : — 

(1) ** Several Sermons on Angels, with A Sermon on 
The Power of Devila in Bodily Distempers. By 
Thomaa Shepherd, M.A." 1702. 

(2) "Three Sermons on Separation, in answer to 
Mr. Bennet's Discourse of Schism: with a Post- 
script to Mr. Bennet. By Thomas Shepherd, 
M.A., Minister of the Gospel," 1702. 

(3) Some Considerations on Mr. Bennet's Defence of 
his Discourse on Schism. By Way of Letter to 
Mr. Bennet. By Thomas Shepherd, M.A. The 
Second Edition," 1703. 

(4) " A Treatise of Divine Worship ; tending to prove, 
That the Ceremonies imposed upon the Minis- 
ters of the Gospel in England, in present Con- 
troversie, are in their Use unlawful. With a 
Preface, Containing an Account of the Antiquity, 
Occasion, and Grounds of Non- Conformity : A 
Vindication of the Dissenters from the Charge 
of Schism, and of Occasional Conformity from 
the Charge of Novelty and Hypocrisie, and In- 
consistency with the Principles of Dissenters. 
And Also, A Postscript in Defence of a Book 
entituled, Thomas agamst Bennet, beine a Reply 
to Mr. Bennet's Answer thereto." 1703. No 
author is named, but the Postscript has for 
signature at the close the initials D. M. 

(5) "A Brief Beply to the Scriptural and Argu- 
mentative Part of Mr. Bennetts Brief Hi&tory of 
the Joint Use of Precomposed Set Forms, of 
Prayer." 1708. There is no indication of 
author. 

On every one of these books there is the autograph, 
generally, " John Moore his book," this being occasionally 
repeated on a succeeding page. In one instance there is 
adopted the modem form, " John Moore's book." Mr. 
Moore also marks the cost of the different books; the 
first three "price Is. OOd." each, the fourth and fifth 
"price 6d." each. If these prices at first seem small, 
the much greater value of money nearly two centuries 
ago must be borne in mind. 

When Mr. Moore had these five works bound together 
in strong calf, in one volume, he had several blank pages 
inserted between the different works ; and these contain 
matter of great Interest. Between (2) and (3) there is 
an abstract of a Beply by Mr. Bennet to Shepherd's Ser- 
mons on Separation, with the preamble : " Mr. Bennet 
published a Beply to ye foregoing Sermon on Separation ; 



5t 

whence ye following^ Collections are summarily ex- 
tracted." Far more interesting MSS., however, are 
between (1) and (2). These are (a) -^ Appendix giving 
a Relation of a Dream which J. W. had a few Months 
before his Death, a.D. 1706, and (b) A Strange .Relation 
of Mrs. E. F., who being (to appearance) dead, revived 
again, taken from her own mouth bv me M. Harrison. 
This, as if it were a letter, closes, " I am your frienc^ 
Michael Harrison, Dec. 3, 1709/' Mr. Harrison was the 
well-known minister of Potterspurjr (1690-1709). The 
incident referred to in his communication it may, there- 
fore, be assumed, was from the experience of a member 
of his congregation. The subscription must not mislead 
us into supposing that the handwriting is Michael Har- 
rison's. All the MSS. are in one handwriting, and it is 
quite evident from comparison with the various auto- 
graphs that the whole is written by John Moore him- 
self. In the case of the " Strange Relation," therefore, 
it is plain that we have a copy of a letter of Michael 
Harrison's. The " Strange Relation," and still more 
the " Relation of a Dream," make significant references 
to angels ; and so we gain suggestion of the purport of 
Mr. Moore in inserting them immediately after the ** Dis- 
courses on Angels." The "Strange Relation" describes 
an experience that is undeniably remarkable, 
but one which has it» counterpart, too, in 
other recitals, on good authority, of apoarent 
death followed by resuscit^ition. The aream 
is one, on the whole, of great beauty ; but it also has 
its darker episodes, reflecting the gloomier aspects of 
the theology of the day. Probably Mr. Moore regarded 
the Dream as bearing testimony to the doctrines of the 
preacher ; but it is a dream which might not unnaturally 
have befallen a remarkably meditative and devout reader 
of the sermons.; and, however valuable these may be, the 
dream would now, probably be regarded as a reflection of 
them, rather than a testimony to them. It is only fair 
to say that the sermons themselves are very carefully 
written, and are marked by great moderation and an 
absence of all wild and fanciful suggestion. 

The ink of these MSS. is still quite black, and the 
• handwriting, whilst small, is particularly regular, and 
is as legible as is the letter-press of the volume. 

The volume, probably on the death of Mr. Moore, in 
1726, came into the possession first of one Frances 
Brine, whose name, written either by herself or another 
(the handwriting is nob very feminine), appears on 
the inner page of the front book-board: "Frances 
Brine, Her book. Sep. 29, 1727.'' It may b© noted 
that Mr. Moore's youngest daughter, Anne, married 
John Brine, a Calvinistic Baptist Minister, a native of 
Kettering, who for many years was pastor of a con- 
gregation in Cripplegate, iJondon. On the correspond- 
ing inner page of the back book-board is a singular 
inscription : " April 30. 1743. Josiah Brine's Book for 
Mrs. Atkins at) Newport Pagnel to read to be sent by 
William Boomer of Sherrington to Her & Returrfd to 
Him again." Then there is a rough addition which 
cannot always in modern days be made after the loan 
of books : " Retum'd." The handwriting of this little 
addition is similar in many respects to the writing of 
"Frances Brine." In the old Church Books of College 
Lane Chapel there is reference to a Mr. Banner or 
Boomer (the name is spelt both ways) as having been 



56 

pastor in 1732, of the "Church of Chriat upon the.Oreen 
in this Towne," and. as having ceased to be pastor in 
1733 upon sonae change in his .views, "he having lade 
down his Pastoral office and preached to mixed Com- 
munion." This change would not . unnaturally lead to 
a closer connection with the Church at College Lane. 

The arguments of Mr. Bennet ai\d Mr. Shepheid are 
on the lines to which readers of the ecclesiastical con- 
troversies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 
are accustomed, and need no special attention. in the 
present notice; but there is one chapter of singular 
autobiographical interest on " The Author's Sufferings 
in the Church of England," ^hich is of great value for 
those who would understand the ecclesiastical history 
of the period. In 1662, the year of the Act of Uni- 
formity, and the Ejectment of the 2,000, Thomas Shep- 

' herd was minister of St. Neots, but was not among 
the Nonconiormiists. His .father, "Mr. Thomas Shep- 
herd, was minister, of Tilbrook, in Bedfordshire. He, 
too, was among those who conformed. Their sym- 
pathies were, however, in most respects plainly with 

■ the Nonconformists ; and after some years the father 
non-conformed, and some time later, the example of 
th^ father strengthening him, the son also non- 
conformed. The peculiar interest of the auto- 
biographical chapter is in the light in throws on men 
occupying this ambiguous position. Two points deserve 
s^tecial attention. (1) Shepherd makes mention of a 
certain small number of minis-ters who on the granting 
o( Toleration at once separated f3\)m the Episcopal 
Church. This does not seein to have arisen from their 
no& having had courage to take the step before; but 
frcm the removal of certain scruples now that the 

. State acknowledged Nonconformity. Thev probably 
felt as Edmund Calamy later put it; " Now Noncon- 
formity is as much established as Episcopacy.-' This 
brief paper is simply historic; so there need be no 
s\ ec^al examination of the plea. ■ (2) In the mean- 
while the Conformity, with some of these clergymen, 
seems to have been very imperfect ; Shepherd minutely 
describes his own practice. Not only did he, as' many 
others, generally engage a "reader" for the Prayers, 
and himself confine his ministry to preaching, and t-o 
the pastoral care of his parish ; but, when he did him- 
self read prayers, there was considerable divergence 
from the prescribed forms. "I us'd to read all the 
Prayers," he says, " though not all at one Time ; what 
I omitted one Lord's Day I read the next.'' Further, 
*' Some small Passages I sometimes did pass by, or 
alt-er." One remarkable example he gives : " As for 
instance .... in the Thanksgiving. When I was 
in Doubt about my own Eternal State, I oft pass'd by 
the Word Creation." Other examples are more in 
accord with the objections felt by the Nonconformist 
Ministers: "So in the Office for Baptism, instead of 
these Words, This Child is Regenerate and Born 
again: I would Read, This Child is receiv'd inio the 
Besom of the Church : In the Office for Burial, in- 
stead of these Words, In sure and certain Hope of 
the Resurrection to Eternal Life; I Read, In sure and 
certain Expectation of a Resurrection to a Future 
State; and manv such like." Conformists and Non- 
conformists of the present day would certainly agree 
that this was not Conformity. 



5r> 

Some of the early NoncanfomuKts were great smokers. 
Amid the oontrover-sies of the times it is pleasant 
to find the indication of a common hmnan nature. 
There was certainly >a^e&ment in some matters. 
Shepherd is referring to the Death of Bishop Barlow, 
of Lincoln, who wa» his very frferongly disapprjving 
diocesan when he wa« at St. Neots : " Tidings met m e 
in the Street that my Lord Bishop was Deetd: he 
dy'd in his Chair smoaking his pip© after Dinner." 

Thomas Shepherd was minister of St. Neots (1660-2). 
Here he had a very troubled time, and was glad to 
remove to Haversham, Bucks, in another diocese. 
There be published his " Penitential Cries," of which 
he says, in a note to the autobiographical chapteo^ he 
owns only the first and fourth editions, the printer 
having mangled the rest. At Haversham " the Cere- 
monies shaled off of their own accord." His father 
had by now joined the Dissenters, and after a few 
years the younger Shepherd, who, when at St. Neots, 
had from scruples declined the invitation of a "Dis- 
senting Congregation at Stamford," himself joined 
the Nonconformists. He was Minister of Castle Hill 
Meeting, Northampton, for only a short while (1695-6), 
but was Minister of Coggeshall, Essex, for many 
years. Here he wrote the Sermons on Separation. 

The •* Penitential Cries," which are not included in 
the volume we are examining, were in some way writ- 
ten in conjunction with the weU-known hymn- writer, 
John Mason. Only six of them, however, apuear to 
have been Mason's. The rest, including the exquisitely 
beautiful one commencing 

Alas! my God, that we should be 

Such strangers to each other. 
were Shepherd's. Mason never left the Establishment, 
although he had his own share of suffenngs. A kind 
of Puritan George Herbert, he seems to have earned 
the love and reverence of men of different parties. 
Shepherd speaks of a visJt to him during his own sus- 
pension from St. Neots: "During my Susiyension, I 
igaade a Visit to Holy Mr. Mason, who stood suspended 
at the same Time with myself; and though the House 
us'd (as one said of Mr. Dod's) to be perfum'd, such 
was aJways his Discourse full of Savour, full of God; 
yet such was the Anguish of my Spirit, I had no 
delight either in th-at, or in his Company ; he would 
not advise me one Way or another." 

T. GASQUOINE. 



57 



DR. DODDRIDGE'S LECTURES. 

There have come into the possession of Mr. John 
Taylor nine manuscript octavo volumes of Dr. Dod- 
dridge's lectures, uniformly bound in beautiful oalf, 
with gilt edges. The first three volumes have , the 
tifc]«i page : ^ A System of Pneumatology, Ethics, and 
Civil Grovernmeht ; drawn up at Noimampton. By 
p. Doddridge, D.D. Vol. I., Vol. II., or Vol. m., 
W. S. Sculp, T.B. Scripait, or Scrip." The short title 
on the binding, to be read as the volumes are on the 
shelves, is simply "Pneuinatology." The next -two 
volumes, in the corresponding place, are entitled 
" Miscellanies " ; but they have distinct title pagesT— 
"A System of Logick, Bules on Behaviour and Short 
Hand; drawn up at Northanpton. By P. Doddridge, 
D.D. Vol. IV., J. H. Sculps, T. B. Scrips." '?A 
System of Geography; with a Catalogue of the most 
useful Books on Various Subjects ; drawn up at North- 
ampton. By P. Doddridge, D.D. Vol. V., J. H. 
Sculps, T.B. Scrips." Volumes VI. and Vll. on the 
outside have the brief title, " Evidences " ; but, "within, 
there is no regular title page. There i^s in Vol. VI. 
only a long heading, " Theology or Divinity, etc. Tiie 
Evidences of Christianity. Fart I. Of (the Reasons to 
expect and desire a Revelation and the external and 
internal evidences with whicih we mav suppose it ^l^ould 
be attended." Vol. VII. ha» the stiU briefer heading: 
"Prophesies of Christ in the O. T. Part II." — this 
really being a continuation of Part II., which is com- 
menced in the course of Vol. VI. The handwriting of 
these two volumes appears somewhat different from 
that of all the other volumes, although probably the 
writer is the same. That all the others are by one 
writer cannot for a moment be doubted, althougQi the 
initials of T.B. as the scribe no longer appear; and 
there is no more elaboration from either W.S. or J.H. 
Title pages continue to be absent. The last two 
volumes have the headings: "Lectures on Morality. 
Vol. I. or Vol. II." On the outside of Vol. VIII. is 
the somewhat confused title : " Duties on MoraUty " ; 
on Vol. IX., simply "MoraJity." 

In Job Orton's "Memoirs of Philip Doddridge," 
pp. 77-80, there is given in some detail, although 
l^riefly, Doddridge's scheme of lectures with his pupUs, 
and on the comparison of these volumes with that 
scheme, it will be seen there is in the volumes, not 
indeed a complete transcript of his lectures, but at 
all events a very large portion of them. 

Doddridge died October 26, 1751. Early in 1763 there 
was published in a larp^e volume, edited by the Rev. 
Samuel Clark, of Birmingham, "A Course of Lectures 
on the Principal Subjects in Pneumatology, Ethics, and 
Divinity; with References to the most considerable 
Authors on each Subject. By the l«.t« Reverend Philip 
Doddridge, D.D." I have compared the MSS. with this 
" Course of Lectures," and find that, with an occasional 
change in the order in which the prelections appear, the 
printed volume is a reproduction of what is given in the 
MS. volumes on the subject named. As an example of 



58 

the change in order which occurs, however, very occa- 
sionally, I may give the following references: — 

MS. vol ix. pp» 1 — 13. Printed vol. pp. 172—6. 

14-31. .. „ 181-6. 

31—35. „ „ 177-8. 

3&-*2. „ „ 186-«. 

Between peges 178 and 181 are some lectures addi- 
tional to what appear in the MS. vol. 

Further, in the printed volume, the division into lec- 
tures is dropped. The whole appears as a consecutive 
treatise, divided into Ten Parts. When delivered as 
lectures in the Academy, generally three, hut sometimes 
only two were deUvered each week; and this particular 
course, other subjects having also to occupy the atten- 
tion of the students, lasted for three years. These details 
are given us by Job Orton. Further, from the Editor's 
preface to the ** Course of Lectures " it appears that, by 
a clause in his will, Doddridge signified his intention 
that they should be published after his decease. 

There is an introduction to the Course in the form of 
an address from Doddridge to the students. This is of 
great valfae, as showing his manner of conducting his 
classes. From this it appears, among other things, that 
he expected his students to transcribe all his lectures, 
and to make carefal addition of the references he gave 
to other authors. There must at one time, therefore, 
have been many students' copies of his lectures. There 
are still existing a few rare copies of certain o^ Dod- 
dridge's lectures in his own beautiful longhand and 
shorthand. In the "Phonetic Journal" for April 3, 
1886, Dr. John Westby Gibson, the President at the time 
of the Shorthand Society, announces that he himself, has 
the volume^ from which Clark edited the Course in 
1763. 

Samuel Clark was the son of the well-known Dr. 
Samuel Clark*, minister of St. Albans, who did so 
much to befriend the childhood and youth of Doddridge, 
and was his early instructor, and his counsellor so long 
as his own hfe lasted. This, indeed, was almost to the 
verge of Doddridge's life, as it was on bis going in 
December, 1750, to St. Albans to preach the funeral 
sermon on the death of his old friend, that Doddridge 
caught the cold which, telling on his frail constitution, 
ended fatally before another twelvemonth had passed. 

Samuel Clark, the younger, had been a student in 
the Academy under Doddridge, and then became his 
young assistant; in this post, apparently, succeeding 
Job Orton, who had removed to a pastorate in Shrews- 
bury. On the death of Doddridge, twelve months 
after which the Academy was removed to Daventry 
to be under the care of the Rev. Caleb Ashworth, who 
declined himself to remove to Northanapton, Mr. 
Samuel Clark went to Daventry, and was* assistant to 
Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Aahworth. Priestley entered the 
Academy as one of four students, who were the first 
admitted under the care of Dr. Ashworth, in 1751, just 
before the final removal to Daventry. It was a time 
of theological inquiry; to many minds of transition; 

* Not to be confounded with his contemporary, the 
famout Samuel Clarke, D.D., philosopher and divine, 
of the Church of England. 



59 

and a cnrious light upon the condition and methods of 
the Academy is shed by the remark of Priestley that 
^he senior tutor always leaned to the side of ortho- 
doxy, the junior tutor to that of heresy. 

With these facts in our minds, we will now turn again 
to the MSS. volumes, and see if we can identify T. B. 
or learn anything more of the Academy. 

The fitst point of value, if we are to make the 
identification, is the date. This is fixed for us by two 
entries. First, at the close of the lectures on Fneu- 
matology, in Vol. in., "Daveotry Academy, May 6th. 
1761." Then at the close of the ninth volume: 
'* Finished writing these lectures, March 30th, 1762.*' 
We liave here, then, the work of student or tutor, ten 
years after the time of Doddridge, when the Academy 
was at Daventry. 

The initials T. B. can scarcely fail, at first, to sug- 
gest the name of Thomas Belsham, who, at one time, 
was assistant at Daventry. But this was not till some 
years after the date given. Belsham was born only in 
1750; he entered the Academy as a student in 1766, 
and in 1770 was appointed assistant tutor. Samuel 
Olark had ahready left Daventry for Birmingham ; and 
the assistant tutor at the dates named in the volumes 
was, it seems, the Bev. Noah Hill, who had succeeded 
the Rer. Thomas Taylor, who had succeeded the Rev. 
Samuel Clark. With' the appointment of Mr. Hill the 
theological discordance between senior and junior tutors 
appears to have ceased. 

It may be taken as clear, then, that in these volumes 
we have the work of a Daventry student, and as in 
all the volumes there is the signature of "Thomas 
Blackmore," as owner of the book, it may be inferred 
that T. B., the initials of the writer, are his. This 
inference may be regarded as made absolutely certain 
from this name appearing in a complete list of the 
Daventry students, as given by Mr. Belsham in the 
" Monthly Repository " of 1822. Under the year of 
admission, 1759, is the entry: "Thomas Blackmore, 
Esq., Briggins, Herts." From the "Esq." it appears 
that Blackmore was one of the few lay students. And 
the letter " d," which appears before the name, signifies 
that in 1822 he wa^ dead. 

So far, then, clear. In these volumes we have the 
Daventry lectures of Dr. Ashworth. With due acknow- 
ledgment; as appears from the title pages, " as drawn 
up at Northampton by P. Doddridge, D.D.," he made 
Ui»e of the lectures of his predecessor; in the same 
way as Dr. Doddridge had confessedly founded his 
lectures in the first instance on the lectures of his 
tutor, to whom he had become assistant, Mr. Jenmngs, 
of Hinckley. 

No additions of Dr. Ashworth'a own appear in the 
theological lectures, beyond ai reference in one (»r two 
places to Dr. Doddridge among the authors mentioned 
as authorities or guides. In one place, too, in another 
series of lectures, there is an evident addition to some 
advice on the practical and experimental books which 
it might be well for the students to read: "The 
Depth of Howe will be proper bo mingle with the 
Evangelical turn' of Flavel, and ye Energy of Baxter. 



Ghrove ha3 his good sense, and great devotion ; Tillot- 
son smoothness of language; Doddridge an experi- 
mental turn of mind.'' 

Although to the volume in which this remark ap* 
pears there is as usual in the title-page the assertion, 
"Drawn up at Northampton by P. Doddridge, D.D.," 
there will be no doubt that as originally drawn up 
there was no such . significant reference. 

The last quotation is from the lectures entitled, 
"Bules on Behaviour,'' and to readers anxious for 
light on the methods and ways of the Academy these 
quaint lectures are of supreme value. Indeed, they 
now transcend in interest all the rest of the volumes 
together. 

The history of these lectures has a certain pathos. 
When in 17^ Doddridge, under pressure from many 
friends, at last ventured to o>pen ms first Academy at 
Market Harbor ough, in his modesty he would, at the 
outset, receive only two or three pupils. "His first 
lecture to his pupils," Mr. Job Orton tells us, " was of 
the religious kind, showing the Nature, Reasonable- 
ness, and Advantages of acknowledging God in their 
studies. The next contained directions for their Be- 
haviour to him, to one another, to the family, and all 
about them; with proper motives to excite their at- 
tention to them. Then he proceeded to common lec- 
tures." Those early special lectures are evidently m 
the main the aame with these Northampton lectures on 
Behaviour. 

"With whom have we to do?" says the gentle 
Doctor to his students. 

"Here I would remind you." 

" That you have a great deal to do with God." 

" Not a little with one another." 

"And with me." 

"And in promiscuous company." 

"Now what conduct may be expected of you in all 
thesi several respects?" 

"I. — ^As to your behaviour in respect to the great 
and ever-blessed God." 

And so on through four separate detailed lectures. 

It becomes plain, however, when we come to the 
Doctor's counsels on behaviour among the Family, by 
wliich homely term Doddridge always means the band 
of students, and on their life in promiscuous company, 
tha: he has in view a much larger town than Market 
Harborough, and a much larger household than the 
two or three pupils to whom -first he spoke. The 
lectures, though delivered again and again to differ- 
ent generations of students, had received new adap-- 
tations. 

And there are other additions of a specially interest- 
ing character. There aTe additions, of Dr. Ashworth's, 
answering to the new condition of affairs in Daventry. 

" The eyes of many are upon you, of some with very 
ill-natured designs, tho' our friends the Dissenters are 
in general very candid; the Eyes of many in other 
parts of ye Kingdom are upon this Academy in par- 
ticular, especially since it has fallen into new hands, 
some think us too wide in our sentiments, others too 
Orthodox, bigotted, however behave so as to please the 



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61 

^ood of an sorts." In the following words there 
IS a plain reference to changed circumstances: — ^'*Be 
careful of my property ; Rem€mber yt by yr Levity or 
painlessness of a few moments you may do me much 
injury in this respect, itireat me only as vou wod 
wish to be treated yourselves. I have great reasoc 
indeed to ba satisfied with ye family in this respect; 
whereas my predecessor was much worse used, aotd it 
is sad to think how many hundred pounds were waat- 
omly demolished wh the widow and orphans wd now 
be glad of." In the fol lowing, perhaps is the charac- 
tenatic humility of Doddridge: — ^'Exercise candor to- 
wards me. You know how much lies upon me: I have 
to prepare for half the ftamily, correspondencies to keep 
up in various parts ol the kino^dom on your accounts 
besides the care of a congregation and of my own 
private family. A person in such Circumstances can- 
not but be in many Instances more defective than he 
could wish to be, and tho' perhaps I am better 
acquainted with my own Imperfections than you may 
be yet when you perceive any dont be too severe in 
your tensures upon me for' em." But if these words 
Bj%l Dr. Doddridge's, then plainly comes an addition 
of his successor's : " It was wth ye utmost aiuiculty 
under a sens© of my own Inability yt I was persuaded 
to undertake the OflSce: it was to prevent ye falling 
into tftie haiMi of those who wd have cut short the 
Liberties of the family, and it was with a Resolution 
thro' the Grace of God to do my best, wch resolution 
I wod be thankful for having been enabled in some 
Mea-sure to keep, I itlierefore hope for your approba- 
tion." Here is a manifest addition of Dr. Ashworth's 
when the lectures have dwelt upon the ui^ent advant- 
age of a methodical planning of the use of time. "This 
was ye course my ©xcellenl Tutor J)r. Dodd. recom- 
mended earnestly to all his pupils and practised him- 
self and I doubt not but this contributed more than 
a&y thing else to make him yt great and learned man 
yt he certainly was." 

The following was probably Dr. Doddridge's kindly 
remembrance of his onde youthful assistant, Samuel 
Olark ; but, as it appears in the Daventry lectures, 
th3 sentence did duty apparently for successive as- 
sistant tutors: "You easily see, Gentlemen, yt all 
tliese pieces of Advice are also applicable to my Worthy 
Cclleague, ye Tenderness, Candor, and Modesty of 
whose temper must recommend him to your re- 
gards : oh ! let not that Modesty of Temper be made 
by any rough Behaviour of yours to him to prevent 
his usefulness." If an original sentence of Dr. Ash- 
wcrtih's, it might ha.ve been occasioned by the change 
in theological type, already referred to, ifrom Mr. 
Oiark and Mr. Taylor to Mr. Hill, and some objec- 
tions on the part of students to this. 

The lectures " On Behaviour " are full of pleasant 
side-Ughts on the manners of the times and the 
Academy. Two may be referred to as examples. When 
we remember that there are those still hving who can 
reiLember Green Tea being sold at as much as 12s. a 
pound, and Black Tea at Ss., we can see some force in 
th'j exhortation to students wiho evidently had no oreat 
amount of money, and had to be warned against ouy- 
iog "too many 'books"; end above all, against con- 
tracting " any debts " in hope of being able to pay off 



as 

hereafter another year : " Wibh reject to Tea, it x»«y 
«€em hard to deny you, especially as it is I hope ye 
principal unnecessary expense you run into ; but Con- 
sider whether your Circumstances will allow it, besides 
it is a considerable waste of time." Travelling, too, 
WPS cos>tly in those days. '^Excursions on party's of 
pleasure ought by all means to be much discouraged, 
as they are very expensive." 

The second example gives a tender remimscence of 
Ashworth's own student days &b Northampton: "At- 
tend with constancy upon £dl associations of religious 
exercises. When I was at the Academy my chamber 
mate and I made a custom of settinf^ apart a ouarter 
of an hour or thereabouts for prayer just before we 
went out to meetin&r and having found ye benefit of 
it then I took pleasure in reflecting upon it, and see 
cause to be thankful that he was led to make suoh a 
pioposa'. and yt I was enabled to comply with it." 

Ic may be said that there were three or four 
students with initials J. H. during Blackmore's time; 
only one with initials W. S. This was William Studk, 
who became Minister at Dorking. 

T. GASQUOINE. 



6S 



RULES OF THE ACADEMY. 

Tbe following is a Terbatim copy of the original 
manuscript book now in the possession of New CoUege, 
Hampstead, London, of ^e Rules written by Dr Dwi- 
dridgo for the ^tuden-ta at this Northampton Academy. 
The Rules are subscribed by Dr. Doddridge, and his 
assistant tutor, and 63 students. Some of the Rules 
have been revised on more than one occasion. Th« 
M.S was oresented to New College by David Everard 
Ford, of Manchester, in May, 1876. 

CONSTITUTIONS ORDERS & RULES relating to the 
Academy at Northampton agreed upon by the Tutors 
& the several Members of it in December 174^3 & 
then £stabli»hed as the future Conditions of Admis- 
sion into the Academy or Continuance in it. 

Sect. I. OF ACADEMICAL EXERCISES. 

1 In the first Tear Translations are to be mad« from 
Latin into English & vice vers& as appointed by ye 
Tutors to be shewed them at the Day k Hour ap- 
pointed & in the last three Months of this Year Orations 
are to be exhibited in Latin & English alternately every 
Thursday wh is also to be ye Time of ye following 
Exercises. 

2 In the first half of the Second Year these Orations 
are to be. continued & in ye latter Part of ye Year each 
is in his Turn to exhibit a Philosophical Thesis or 
Dissertation, 

3 In the third year Ethical Theses or Dissertations 
are to be exhibited weekly as above, & toward the End 
of this Year & during the Fourth Theological. 

4 The Revolution of these is to be so adjusted that 
every Student may compose at least six Orations 
Theses or Dissertations before ye Conclusion of his 
fourth Year & if ye number of Students should be 
such that more Theses be exhibited than can be dis- 
puted on weekly with the Allowance of one vacant 
Thursday in the Month Disputations are to be held on 
ye Remainder at any Time in ye Morning in the Pres- 
ence of the Assistant Tutor on Days when ye Principal 
Tutor is obliged to be absent. 

5 All the Subjects to be disputed upon are to be 
given out wth the Names of the Respondent k 
Opponent affixed to ye Particular Questions at least 
as soon as ye Academy Meets after ye long Vacation 
& that at Chrisbmas k where it can be done wth 
certainty before it breaks up at those Vacations. 

6 The Absence of the Tutor is not to occasion 
ye Omission of any of these Exercises & if ye Person 
to exhibit them be disabled by Illness or otherwise 
tmavoidably prevented y© next in Order is to take 
his Place k the Turns to be exchanged; in order 
to provide for wh each Exercise is to be delivered 
into the Tutor's Hand on the Day he shall appoint 
at what he judges a prefer Distance of Time between 
that of its Assignment and Exhibition. 

[This last clause has been amended: this is its 
final state.] 

7 Exercises are to be first written in a Paper Book 
then reviewed k corrected by one of ye Tutors after 



64 

that fairly transcribed & after they have been exhioi- 
ted in ye Manner wh shall be appointed a fair Copy 
of them wth ye Authors l^ame annexed shall be 
delivered to the Tutor. 

8 Two Sermons on given Subjects are to be com- 
posed by every Theological Student in his eighth 
hau year to be read over by him in the Class & 
having been there corrected to be preached in the 
Family if the Studeab does no4> propose Preaching in 
Publick before he leave ye Academy & besides these 
at least six schemes of other Sermons on given 
Texts are to be exhibited in the Class during ye 
fourth year by each Student. 

9 If any Student continue a fifth year he is to com- 
pose at least one Sermon and exhibit two Schemes 
every Quarter whether he do or do not preach in Publick. 
Besides wh he is this fifth year to exhibit and defend two 
large Theological Theses ; or if he stay but a Part of ye 
5th Year a proportionable Part of these Exercises is to 
be performed. 

10 Four Classick^ viz One Greek k one Latin Poet 
one Greek & one Latin prose writer as appointed by ye 
Tutor are to be read by each Student in his Study & 
Observations are to be written upon them to be kept in 
a distinct Book & communicated to ye Tutor whenever 
he shall think fit. 

11 Each Student of the upper Class may be allowed 
to propose a difficult Scripture to ye Principal Tutor 
every Thursday Morning to be discussed & examined by 
him ye next Thursday Morning. But it will be expected 
that ye Person proposing them write some Memorandum 
of ye Solution to be afterwards subjected to Beview. 

12 From ye Entrance on ye 2d to ye end of ye 8th 
half year each Theological Pupil will be expected to write 
either at Meeting or afterward in a proper Book Hints 
of all ye Sermons he hears to be examined by ye Tutor 
when he shall require & ye neglect of this shall be deemed 
ye Omission of a Stated Exercise & as such shall expose 
to yt a proper Fine. 

14- On the four Thursdays inamediately preceding the 
Long Vacation (or in Case of an unavoidable Hinderance 
then on ye next Lecture Day following that on which 
there has been an Omission) the whole Academy is to 
meet at Ten in the Morning & all the Forenoon is to be 
spent in ye Examination of Students in ye several 
Studies of ye preceeding year. And on the first of these 
Days Disputations . s-hsSl be held by the two upper 
Classes in the Presence of the Juniors that they may 
learn by Example the Method of Disputation k this is 
ye only Exercise of "fche Kind at which ye Junior 
Classes may be prest [present]. 

14 In Case of a Total Neglect of preparing an ap- 
pointed Exercise Six Pence is to be forfeited to ye Box 
& t\»o pence if a rough Draught of it be not ready for 
ye first Examination a Fortnight after it is assigned at 
ye Time it is to be brought to ye Tutor without being 
particularly called for ; nor is Fargetfulness to be al- 
lowed as any Excuse when ye Order has been registered 
on ye Library Book. Vid Addenda. 

Sect. n. OF ATTENDANCE ON FAMILY PRAYER & 
LECTURE AT APPOINTED TIMES. 
1 Every Student boarding in the House is to be 
present at ye Calling over the Names in ye great Par- 



lour at 10 Minates after six in ttie Morning or to for- 
leit A Penny. 

2 Family Prayer is to begin in the Morning at ei^bt 
a (jlock & in the Evening at Seven, unless pubhck 
Notice be given of any Occasional Change in the Hour, 
& every one absenting himself from either so as not to 
answer to bis Name is to forfeit two pence. And if 
an/ one who has answd to his Name goes out without 
sidKcient Reason before ye Service is concluded he is 
to forfeit as if be bad been totally absent. 

3 livery Student is to be ready for Lecture in the 
proper Boom appointed for his Glass within five 
minutes of the Hour fixed for ye Beginning of ye said 
Lecture or to forfeit two Pence & if Lecture be intirely 
neglected & no Beason can be assigned wh ye Tutor 
(who is always to be judge of sucb Beasons) shall 
thinl; suflBcient he is to be publickljr reproved at ye 
next meeting of ye whole Society, & if the Neglect be 
repeated within a Montb he is to have some extra- 
ordinary Exercise appointed as ye Tutor shall tbink 
fit. 

4- Each Pupil after be bath entered on ye Second 
Half year of his Course shall take bis Turn at Family 
Prayer in ye Evening Fryday Nights not excepted 
& each Student in ye Senior Cl^s shall take bis 
Turn in Praying before Bepetition on Lords Day 
Evening wbile it is kept up at Home. And if that 
coincide wb his stated Turn or happen ye Day before 
or after it, be shall be excused in ye ordinary Course 
of ye Family for that Time. 

5 If any Stranger pray in ye Family or any other 
Person wbose Turn it is not, it shall "ot excuse ye 
Person whose Turn it was unless ye Person officiat- 
ing fliball expressly declare tha>t be intended it in 
that View. Nor shall a Change of Turns be admit- 
ted without ye Tutors express Leave. 

6 If the Person whose Turn it is to go to Prayer 
in the Evening absent himself & have not procured 
another to officiate for him be shall 'orfeit 6d. or 
take bis Turn twice together & if any Person who 
had expressly undeortaken to supply ye placp of 
another fail to attend he shall mcur this Penalty 
& ye other to whom be stood engaged shall only 
forfeit for Ordinary Absence. 

Sect. III. OF THE HOUBS PLACE & OBDEB OF 
MEALS. 

1 The Time of Breakfast is to be from the End 
of Family Prayer in ye Morning till five Minutes 
before Ten. 

2 It is to be eaten either in ye Hall or ye great 
Parlour a Blessing having first been asked b> • the 
Senior Pupil prest at eacb Table if thd Assistant 
Tutor be not at one of them. 

3 They that chuse Tea in ye Morning may either 
breakfast with the Tutor in his Parlour or at the 
other Tea Board in the great Parlour, Each in that 
Case providing bis own Tea k Sugar in a just pro- 

• portion as ye Company shall agree. 

4 Dinner is to be set on the Table precisely at 
Two, when every Student is to be in the HaJl before 
ye Blessing is asked & not to leave ye Boom till 
thanks be returned. 



66 

5 Supper is to be eaten in the Hall between the 
Conclusion of Evening Prayer and nine o'Clock after 
wh ye Table is to be cleared, & if it happan to 
be cleared before any Student not having supper 
before may Command his Supper there till that Time. 

6 Neither Breakfast Dinner nor Supper is to be 
carried into any Boom besides that appointed for 
ye Family Meal except in Case of Sickness & no 
Commons are to be aeiivered out at other Times. 

7 As making Toasts & Butter & Toasting Cheese 
has been found to be UMre expensive than can con- 
veniently be afforded on ye usual Terms here that 
Custom is to be disused except by ye Parlour Boarders. 

8 No Food is to be dressed in the Kitchen but by 
ye Direction or Permission of ye Mistress of the Family. 

9 That ye Servants may not be hindred in their 
Business none oi ye Students are on ye Penalty of for- 
feiting' an half Penny each Time to be in ye Kitchen 
before Morning Prayer, nor from, twelve at Noon tiU 
ye Dinr is served up nor from seven in ye Evening 
till supper is intirely carried into ye httle Parlour. 
And during these Seasons of Exclusion the Kitchen 
Dojr shall be bolted whenever ye Cook shall think fit. 

Sect. IV. OF SHUTTING UP Ye GATE & RETIBING 
TO BED. 

1 The Gate is to be locked every Night when ye 
Clock strikes Ten & the Key is to be brought to the 
Tutor or his Assistant & every Pupil who come in 
a'tiT that Time is to forfeit two pence for every Quarter 
ol an Hour that he hath exceeded Ten. 

["A Qr after'' following the word "Key" have 
been struck out.] 

2 If any one go out of the House without express 
Permission after ye Gate is locked his is to pay a 
Shilling for such Offence & should any one get into ye 
House irregularly after ye Door is Locked he & each 
Person assisting him in such irregular Entry must ex- 
pect that immediate Information will be sent to ibis 
Friends. 

[Thi« rule ha« been altered. Originally it referred 
to getting through the windows. A fine of Is. was 
then inflicted for a firs't offence.] 
^ If any Pupil procure a Key for ye Gate he shall 

not only forfeit it as soon a^ discovered but be Fined 

Hulf a Crown. 

4 If any one keep a Guest beyond half an Hour past 
tea he shall forfeit for every Quarter of an Hour wh 
such Guest st<iys as if he had staid abroad Imnself. 

5 If any one Stay out aU Night & do not ye next 
pay of his own Accord take an opportunity of acquaint- 
ing the Tutor or Assistant wh it & giving Reajson for 
so extraordinary a conduct he must expect that if it 
afterward come to ye Tutors Knowledge an inomediate 
Complainit will be lodged wh his Friends without any 
previous Notice taken of it to him. 

[" Some sufficient " before " Beason " have been 
struck out.] 

6 An Account is to be brought to ye Tutor every 
Saturday Morning b)^ ye Person who has kept the Key 
of the Gate ye preceding week of every one who has been 
let in during yt Time s3t«r ten a Clock. 



67 

Sect. V. BULES BELATING TO TB CHABIBEBS 
AND CLOSETS. 

1 That the Chamberg k Closets be chosen by Persons 

Saying ye same Price according to ye Seniority of Classes 
i that if any Question concerning them anse between 
Persons of ye same Class who are Boarders on ye same 
Terms it be detennined by Lot. 

2 Every one .jpntering on any Chamber or Closet is 
to acquaint the Tutor wh ye Number of it & to continue 
in it till he give Notice to ye Tutor of his Purpose to 
exchange it & have his approbation as to ye Begularity 
of that Exchange. 

3 That when any Student leaves a Chamber or Closet 
he desire ye Tutor to go wh him into it that it may 
appear it is left in good Bepair or that if it be not proper 
Measures may be taken for fitting it up for ye Beception 
of ye Person who may next succeed ; or for locking it 
np, if ye Tutor judge it more convenient that in pre- 
sent Circumstances. of ye Family it should be kept un- 
inhabited, or converted to any use different from what 
it has formerly had. 

4 That iS Windows be broke. Furniture wantonly 
demolished, or any other Hurt be done to ye House 
by ye Fault of any of ye Pupils, ye repair of such 
Damage be charged to ye Person by whom it is done. 

N.B. — ^This extends to ye Listruments of ye Ap- 
paratus & even to any Detrimt wh miay arise to th^ 
by ye Carelessness of any Person by whom any of 
them may be borrowed or taken out of their place. 

5 No Worknaan is to be employd in any Apartment 
of the House without express Leave obtained froia ye 
Tutor, & settling it wh him, at whose Expense such 
Work is to be done. 

6 Empty Closets &• Chambers are to be kept 
lockd up, & ye Keys to remain in ye Ttitors Keeping. 

Sect. VI. BULES BELATING TO Ye UBBABY. 

1 Ei^ry Pupil is to pay a guinea to the Library 
when he enters on ye Second Tear of his Course if he 
propose to go thro ye whole but if he pur|>ose to stay 
only two Tears he is to pay but half & guinea & that 
from ye Time that he enters on ye Second Half year. 

2 Every one that takes a Book out of the Librarv 
is to make a distinct Entry of it in ye Library Book 
prepared for that purpose adding his Ncune at length 
Ie IS in consequence of that Entry to be accountable 
for ye Book while it stands under his Name. 

3 When he brings in the Book (wh he is always to 
do at three a Clock every Saturday in y© Afternoon if 
not before Beferences excepted) he is to return it into 
its proper place in ye Library blotting out ye Entry he 
hod made of it And in Case either of these Bules are 
neglected j^d is to be forfeited for each Book. 

^ Beference Books belonging to any Class may be 
laid together on the Shelf over ye Writing Desk k 
enterd by ye word [above] Substituted for ye Name 
of the Person who had them last in his Possession; 
if that Person be not ye last in ye Class, in wh 
Case he is to put them into their Proper Places k 
when any one in a Class delivers those Beference 
Books to another he is to change ye Name or remain 
Accountable for ye Books, 



68 

5 No Dictionaries Lexicong or Commentators not 
referd to in Lectures are to be taken out of ye 
Library without express Permission of ye Tutor on 
ye penalty of forfeiting two Pence for each Book. 

6 If any Book be found in any Boom above or 
below & ye Person undr whose Care it is be not in 
ye Boom ye Pemon under whose Name it stands 
shall forfeit two pence for every Folio or Quarto k 
a Penny for every smaller Book. 

7 The Library shall be looked over every Saturday 
at three in ye Afternoon by the Monitor of ye week 
assisted by ye Person who is to succeed him a Cata- 
lojfue is then to be taken of all the Books which are 
wanting to be called over a Quarter before Seven in 
the Evening & every Student not attending at that 
Time shall forfeit a Penny distinct from any For- 
feiture for being afterwar(Js absent from Family 
Prayer if such Absence should happen. 

8 When the List has been called over every Student 
shall be interrogated as to those wanting & if any be 
found in his Custody of wh on such Examination he 
have not given regular Jntelligence he shall forfeit Six 
Pence for every such Book. 

9 The Forfeits collected at these Times for offences 
agt the Laws of ye Library shall go to ye Monitor, & 
ajiy forfeit to be paid by ye Monitor himself shall go 
to ye Person who is to succeed him in his Office. 

[T'hi« rule has been altered. Originally Ibalf the 
fines went to the Monitor.] 

10 If any one take away the Pen or Ink out of ye 
Library, or the Library Book except wanted in Class 
or ye Catalogue of Books out of ye Library he is to 
forfeit six Pence. 

Sect. Vn. RULES RELATING TO Ye OFFICE OF 
THE MONITOR. 

1 Every Academical Student in the Family is to be 
Monitor in his Turn excepting only the Senior Class 
for the Time being & if any of them shall in his Turn 
chuse to officiate as Monitor his Assistance shall be 
thankfully accepted. 

2 The Monitor is to call up every Student a^t six a 
Clock in ye Morning Winter & Summer Vacation Times 
only excepted & having rung the Bell twice at ten 
Minutes after six is to call over all ye Names distin- 

Siishing in his Bill those who are absent & for every 
uarter of an Hour wh he delays he is to forfeit two 
pence. He is also to call over his List before Morning 
& Evening Prayer as above as also immediately be- 
fore all Lectures appointed for ye whole Academy 
together & and if he fail to do it or to provide some 
other Person to supply his Place he is to forfeit Six- 
pence for every such Failure. 

3 He is to review ye Library on Saturday at three 
in ye Afternoon & to call over ye Oatatogue of ye Books 
wanting aocordling to Sect VI. mo 7. under a Forfeiture 
of a Shilling & he is then to see tha>t a Pen & Ink 
be left in ye Library for publick Use. 

4- Hie is to lay up ye Bibles & Psalm Books after 
Prayer in the Cupboaaxi dn ithe long Prayer & as an 
Acknowiledgiement for that trouble is to olaim a Farthing 
for every one who shall neglect to bring his Psahn Book 
with him at those Times, if he ohoose generally tp 
keep it in hia Closet. 



5 The Monitor 19 to have an Ey^e on ye Door to see 
whether any one goes out during Divine Service k to in- 
fomi yo Tutor of it & ia to send ye Junior Pupil presb 
to call ye Tutor if in ye Hou^e as soon as he hegins to 
cafll over ye Names. 

Sect. Vni. RULES RELATING TO CONDUCT 
ABROAD. 

1 No Student is to go into a Publick Houae to drink 
there on Penalty of a publick Censure for ye first Thne, 
&; ye Forfeiture of a Shilling the second; unless some 
partdcular Occasion arise which shall in ye Judgement 
(rf the Tutor be deemed a Sufficient Reason. 

2 No one is to begin o P M at any Place in ye Town 
without tihe Knowledge & Approbatiion of the Tutor. 

3 If any ooie spread Reports abroad co ye Di«- 
honour of ye FamCy or any Member of it he must ex- 
pect a Pubilick Reproof & to hear a Caution given to 
others to beware of placing any Confidence in him. 

Sect. IX. MISCELLANEOUS RULES NOT 
COMPREHENDED UNDER Ye FORMER SECTIONS. 

See ye Addenda [this line is an interposition]. 

3 When the small Pecuniary Fines here appointed 
evidently appear to be despised they will be ex- 
changed for some extraordinary Exercises which if 
they are not performed must occasion . Complaint to 
the Friends of ye Student in Question; for the Intent 
of these Laws is not to inrich ye Box at ye Expence 
of those who are determined to continue irregular, 
but to prevent any from being so. 

[Originally No. 1.] 

4 If any kind of Rudeness ft Indecency of Be- 
haviour be practised the of such a sort as cannot be 
particularly provided for by such Rules k the Tutor 
admonish the Offender for it publickly or privately 
without E£fect» it must be expected that out of 
Resrard to ye Ci^dit ft Comfort of the Society he 
will endeavour to engage the Interposition of such 
other Friends as may be supposed to Lave a greater 
Influence over the Student, whose Misbehaviour is 
apparent to him ; & he concludes that this will be 
esteemed by all equitable Judges an Act of Kindness 
to the Society ft the Publick. 

[Originally No. 2.] 

5 Accounts wh ye Tutor are to be balanced twice 
a year, ft all Bills from Tradesmen if such there be 
are to be delivered in to ye Tutor by ye Persons 
from whomi they are due at the Seasons at wh they 
respectively know their Accounts are to be made up. 

[There was an addition to this rule, really a 
reflection on the evils of long reckonings.] 
[Originally No. 3.] 

6 No Student is to board abroad unless at ye 
Desire « under the Direction of the Tutor. And 
those who do so board abroad, are nevertheless to 
attend Family Prayer ft Lectures at ye appointed 
times. 

[Originally No. 4.] 

7 The News bought for ye Use of the Family is to 
be paid for out of ye Box. 



s 



70 

8 Six Pence is to be allowed from ye Box weeklj to- 
wards ye Support of the Charity School &; the Bemainder 
of the Cash (excepting only twenty Shillings to be re- 
served in Bank) at ye End of Every Year shall be dis- 
posed of in Books or Instruments for ye apparatus ac- 
cording to ye Vote of ye Society to be detenuined by 

e Majority of Votes, in which every one who is ending 
lis second Tear shall have two Votes &; the rest but one. 

This .Distribution to be made at ye Beginning of the 

next long Vacation. 

9 In the Absence of the Principal Tutor the Assistant 
Tutor is to be regarded as his Deputy &; ye same Be- 
spect to be paid to him by seniors as well as Juniors, 
&; his Decisions in relation to all Forfeits becon^ing due 
upon these Laws is to be lookd upon as final. 

10 It is always to be understood as a most important 
Part of the Trust reposed in ye Assistant to inspect ye 
Behaviour of the Pupils with Begard to these Laws &; to 
ffiv© faithful Intelligence to ye Tutor of the Violation of 
them when it comes to his Knowledge, as also of any 
other Irregularities of Behaviour wh may affect the 
Character Comfort & Usefulness of any Students belong- 
ing to ye Society. 

N.B. If any Gentlemen not intended for ye Ministry 
tbinl-. fit to do us ye Honour to take up their Abode 
amongst us whatever their Bank in Life be it is ex- 
pected & insisted upon that they govern themsfelves by 
thes.3 Bules excepting those wh directly relat-e to exer- 
oiaes preparatory to ye Ministry in wh Family Pr\y«'r 
on common Evenings is incluoed wh is required '^or 
hheip own Sakes as well as that of ye Family to whom 
the Admission of such might otherwise prove an In- 
convenience. 

P DODDRIDGE DD. Dec. lOfch 1743 

T. BRABANT 

We whose Names are hereunto Subscribed do 

hereby Declare our Acquiescence in these Oonstitu- 
tiona Orders & Bules as the Terms of our Bespective 
Admission into or Continuance in the Academy at 
Northampton. 

Thos Ellis Samuel Lyde 

John West Edward Middlecott 

John French Thoa Watson 

John Hanmer Bichd Jones 

Thomas Hancock Wm Holman 

Danl Baker V^m Lincolne 

Andw Parminter Samuel Clarke 

Thos Clarke Jabez Hyrons 

Sam Fenton Thos Hirons 

John Spils : Witton John Colston 

T Laugher Jno Cogan 

John Gardner H Somerville 

Bichd Gardner Josiah Follett 

John Godwin David Graham 

Thos Greaves Archdale Williams 

Aw Kippis Jerh Tidcotnbe 

Thos Tyndale Henry Hoghson 

Wm Warburton William B^nkine 

Jo Perarusson Geo Birch 

Malachi Blake Wm Farr 

Benjn Wills David Kennedy 

Peter Pahyan John Houghton 

John England Thos Urwick 

David Gardiner John Heap 

John Holland Wm Bedy 
Edward Penry 



71 

ADDENDA 

to Sect 1 ad fin, 16. The first Thursday in every 
Session ie after ye long Vacation k that at C^istmafl 
Exercises are to be appointed to each Student of the 
three upper Classes. 

[This addition is erased.] 
To Sect. 1. 15. The Neglect of transcribing a Lec- 
ture is to be lookd upon & punished as if Neglect of 
Preparing an Exercise. 

16 As a Security for ye Forfeits to be paid on these 
or o-ther Occasion's each Student is at ye beginning of 
a Session or wn he enters ye Academy to deposite five 
Shillings in the Hands of the Assistant Tutor & ye 
same Sum again when that is forfeited but whatever 
remains unforfeited at the End of a Session is to be 
returned to him. 

17 Forfeitures in Question are to be adjudged & 
registered at 8 every Saturday Morning & no Excuses 
are to be heard by those who are not then prest to 
ansr to their Names & o£fer them. 

Subscriptions to ye Laws continued 
Henry Betnan 



Nics Clayton 
Clemt Qlinn 
Jas Taylor 
Wadswth Busk 
Ebenezer Badcliff 
Henry Cutler 



Pierre fiocqnette 
Willm Blake 
Joseph Gellibrand 
Joseph Brown 
Newcome Cappe 



DR. DODDRIDGE'S ACADEMY. 

Among the MSS. of the late Dr. Baffles, of Liverpool, 
was a letter of Samuel Mercer, who was focr some yearit 
minister of Ohowbent, Lancashire, and who was trained 
a'tf Dr. Doddridge's Academy, Northampton. The letter 
is of singular interest from the side- lights it throws on 
lile in the Academy. Samuel Mercer was a son of 
Mr. Joseph Mercer, of Allerbon, near Liverpool, an in- 
fluential layman a i.ong the Nonconformists of the 
neighbourhood in the early part of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. The letter has been recently published in the 
sixth volume, pp. 101-2, of Mr. Nightingale'^ "Lanca- 
ishire Nonconformity." lb is as follow*: — 

Novr 12, 1750. 
"Hond. Parents, 

"I reed your last, which I had intended to have 
answered sooner, had I not had so much business upon 
my hands, which to have omitted would have been to 
my disadvantage, &c. As for seeing you and my 
brother at Northampton I should be extremely glad, 
but, perhaps, you may think that may be an excuse 
for juy not coming home, for, I will assure you I can- 
not go to London along with you, for our vacation 
will begin the latter end of June, so that if you come it 
will but be unnecessary charges for you to come 
through Northampton, but I s-hould be very glad if 
you would send me word in your next letter whether 
you would have me come home or no, Asc. 

"If I have been extravagant in my expences I «m 
not sensible of it. You see always all my bills that are 
of any importance, and aa I have sent you some en- 
closed in thi« letter, which I hope you will have no 
objection to. [Unfortunately the bills do not seem to 
have been preserved.] The everlasting which you see 

is for two pair of waistcoats, one pair of which 

I have worn out almost, and my gown is so far gone 
that it will scarce last me till a few weeks longer. I 
have bought a new wig, which I stood in great Vant 
of. I wore my old one till it was not worth a penny, 
and that wig which I had when I came first is almost 
done. And I have bespoke a new pair of boot«, which 
I cannot possibly do without, for if you knew what I 
undergo by going into the country towns to repeat 
sermons and pray. It happened I and another of my 
fellow pupils were gone out to repeat a «ermon, and 
beincr witnout boots we were two -hours in a> storm of 
rain and wind. We were lost in a country where we did 
ni>t know nothing at all of, so that I think it is not only 
useful but necessary to have a (pair. I have, according 
to your desire, bought a quantity of coaJs, of which I 
have bought 10 Hund., which cost 12s., Which I 
borrow'd of my mistress. I should be very glad to 
know, in particular, whether Mr. Harding preached 
from that text, and whether hie has converted any of 
the new notioners by preaching. I should be ver^ glad 
if you would desire Mr. Harding to let me have a few 
of hi« mo9h orthodox sermons to go to repeat. I wish 
you would be so good as to ask him that favour, if you 
think it would not be improper. If he could I hope you 
would send them immediately. Let me know in your 



73 

next haw the aSair is, since sermons of the same kind 
are >so very scarce that we can scarce light of a hook 
to write a good sermon oat of, but one or another haa 
heard. Pray let me ^now in this particular the next 
letter. And I should he very glfl>d if you would send me 
my watch, and send me a box with a (few of your best 
books, which ^vill be the mo«ib convenient for me, a^ 
soon as possible. And let me know how my brother 
Robert goes on, whether hie is gone to St. Helen's School, 
and if he is pray dont, and' I earnestly beg you would 
board hSm. ait William Olaughton's, for if you do, so 
yeung as he is, he will certainly be ruined ; for I have 
seen the many dangers and difficulties, and have won- 
dered since iow I broke through ibhem; so tlhat for 
your own happiness, and his everlasting happiness, do 
not send him thither, for if I thought you would send 
•him thither I should never be easy, &c. So 1 must 
beg Jeave to conclude with my respects, as due. 
From your very dutiful son, 
S. Mebcsb.'' 

Then there follows a kind of postscript, addressed to 
the faither alone, contadning almost, as if it wei^e a 
modiern lady's postscript, the most important part of 
hds letter: — 

" Dr Father, — ^I should esteem it not only as a great 
favour, hut as a gr^at honour peid to me, if you would 
be so good, as it is for my interest, to make a present 
to the doctor of a couple of Cheshire cheeses, not strong, 
but mild and fat, which will be verv acceptable to the 
doctor, AS he provided me a tutor Wt year, and I do 
not know whether he wiU be paid for it, and likewistf, if 
you please, thaib I s-hould make a present of something 
about a crown value, to the Drs. assistant, who, when 
he should have been taking recreation, has been in- 
structine me, so that it would be a means of my 
further improvement; and likewise to send my Dame, 
for she is a widow, and she behaves very well to me. 
I hope, father, you will not forget. And I must beg 
the favour in particular 1^ send a Cheshire cheese to 
one of my particular aoquaintence, a shop keeper, where 
I buy my stockings, and where I am positive of it, I 
am used as if I were almost some of their family, whose 
son I'have under my care to teach Latin, and, who, if 
it lay in their power, wouH help me in the greatest 
extremity, who have made me several handsome jjre- 
sents, and sell me their goods, as I have seen with my 
own eyes — a pair of stockings I have bought 6d. cfieaper 
than Hiey have sold to any one of our gentlemen^— >vbo 
aire very religious people, not those who cant people 
out of thedr money, and give them fair words." 

Mr. Mercer, the elder, -wbs a farmer and cheese 
factor; hence the strong appeal to him for Cheshire 
cheeses. The Mr. Harding referred to was at the time 
minister at Toxteth Park, Liverpool, at what is now 
known as the Ancient Chapel. The habit of exchanging 
sermons and preaching them, from other curious evi- 
dence in letters of the period, seems to have been not 
UDOooomon among a certain section of the ministers. 

In Doddridge's Diary of 1749 there is an entry : "Grod 
has been pdeased th!is year to make the largest acces- 
sion of students to my academy tha* it hM ever re- 
ceived in any one year, I think fifteen in number." 
Doddridge names them, and young; Mercer is in the 
listb Tw.t he was then young is evident from the fact 



74 

thAb he d&ed September 27, 1786, m the fiity-lourth year 
of his age. £te was only then bet-ween sixteen and 
aeyenteen vears of age, when admitted to the Acadenxy. 
In 1754 Samuel Mercer left the Academy for the be- 
ginodng of bds mina.«try at Tockiholes, Lancashire, when 
he was not much more than one and twenty. By this 
time, however, had occurred the death of Doddridge, 
and Mercer had been transferped to Daventry, where 
the Academy was carriied on by Dr. Ashworth. 

Notwithstanding the influential position of Mercer's 
father among Lanccushdre Nonconformists he seems not 
to have heeti able to meet all the expenses of his son's 
education at Northampton ; which may explain the aon's 
anxiety over his necessary personal expenditure. There 
is a touching entry in Doddridge^s tWary: "Whereas 
I did, at the beginning of the la»t year, make a solemn 
surrender of a tenth (rf my ordinary income to the ser- 
vice of God, I find, -upon a review, that upwards of 
twenty guineas have been this way employed ; whereas 
the inc(Hne of my people and estate, presents included^ 
has not been aibove a hundred end fifty pounds more 
than by pupils, of which more than one- tenth has been 
given in the education of four of my pupils " — and then 
come their names — ^"Watkei*, B. Strange, Mercer, and 
White." To this may be referred Mercer's expression, 
in the ^ostcript to his father, " he provided me a 
tutop last year." 

Several of the students admitted' with Mercer seem 
to have achieved some eminence. One — Mr. Murray — 
was afterwards Earl of Dunmore. Sir Henry Iloughton, 
of the famous Houghton Tower in Lenoajshire, was 
probalbly a feUow-student of Mercer's. One or two 
who were admitted at the same time with him were 
from Holland. The high repute of the Academy had 
extended to other countries. 

T. GASQUOINE. 



76 



DB. DODDRIDGE and PORBIGhN 
MISSIONS. 

Mr. Taylor lias in his collection a copy of the r#- 
markable fiermon of Dr. Doddridge on ^'The Evil and 
Danger of Neglecting the Souls of Men." This copy 
i% of the edition publierhed in 1819, edited by the Ber. 
Q-. Burder, of Oamberwell, so well known by his deep 
interest in Home Missions. The sermon, as the title 
pag3 shows, was preached at a meeting of ministers 
at Kettering, Oct. 15, 1741. It ifi characterised by the 
simplicity and fervour usually found with Doddridge. 
There is evident a deep anxiety lest occupation in 
studies, or other lawful and even obhgatory pursuits, 
should lead the pastors of souls to neglect personal 
dealing with those under theij charge. Of deeper in- 
terest nowj, howeyer, th-an the sermon itself, is the 
Sreface. This as by the editor, but it makes much 
etailed allusion to on earlier preface by Doddridge 
himself. 

It is first stated that the sermon, though preached 
in Kettering, was dedicated '^To the associated minis- 
ters of Norfolk and Suffolk," before whom first of all, 
in the previous June, the Doctor had laid the heads of 
a scheme which he w«s then forming for the revival 
of reli^on in his own neig'hbourhood. Of this scheme 
the mmisters highly approved, as did several others 
in London. In the following August it was laid before 
a meeting of ministers in Northampton, when it was 
agreed that it should be fully considered at their next 
meeting in October, which was the meeting at Ket- 
tering, when ithe sermon referred to was preached. 

In the Doctor's dedication of his sermon, he re- 
counts the several heads of this scheme, and the re- 
solutions arrived at. They begin with urging that 
every minister s:hould preach one Lord's Day on 
F-amily Eeligion, and another on secret prayer; the 
families of each congregation are to be systematically 
visited Dy the pastor, the names of the heads of 
families, the children, the servants,, to be carefully 
registered, etc., etc. But at the conclusion the Doctor 
appeals to the ministers on a matter he had not men- 
tioned to them when he met with them ; and this is of 
the deepest interest, for we find this large-hearted' man 
devising a scheme for bringin^f the needs and claims 
of the very heathen to the hearts of the Ohristian 
Churches. He puts the " Quere," " Whether something 
might not be done in most of our congregations to- 
wards assisting in the propagation of Ohristianity 
abroad, and spreading it in some of the darker parts 
of our own land." Here, eighty years before the great 
philanthropic movement which led to the formation of 
our Foreign and Home Missionary Societies, we find 
the idea distinctly germinating in thel mind of this 
remarkable man. Doddridge formulates a scheme for 
the establishment of these distinct societies in separate 
congregations. He proposed a form of covenant com- 
mencing: — 

''We, whose names are subscribed, bein^ moved, as 
we hope and trust, by a real concern for the Pro- 



76 

pagiatioD of the Kingdom of Ohrist in tho "woTld, hare 
determined to form omvelves into a Society for that 
end, on the following termjs.'' 

Then follow edghb resolation«, which may be thns 
briefly indicated: 

(1) '* Daily private pnuyer is to -be offered for the 
soocese of ail the faithful servants of Giriat, who are 
engaged in the work of the advancement of the Gospel, 
e^)eciAUy among the heathen nations." 

(2) At least four tdmee a yiear there shall be special 
meetings for prayer, with the same object, in the 
places of woirahip. 

(3) Sometime is to be then spent '^ in reviewing those 
portions of Scripture which relate to the establishment 
of our Redeemer's Kingdom in the world." 

(4) Information is, if possible, to be given at the 
quairteiHIy meetings from those ^engaged in the work: 
toe minaster is to be requested to keep up such corres- 
pondencee. 

(5) Every one at theee meetings will seek to '^oon- 
tribute something, be it ever so little, towards the 
carrying en of this pious design." A treasurer and four 
trustees ape to be appointed. 

(6) The pastor, i£ a member of the society, is to be 
one of the trustees, tAc. 

(7) After the first meeting, members are to be ad<« 
mitted by the consent of the majority of t^e societjr 
present, at some stated meeting. 

(8) Minutes are to be taken, etc. 

Dr. Doddridge's design was for the formation of 
many distinct Congregational Societies ; but is it not 
dear that he was the instrument of sowing the seeds 
that in a little while were to spriner up in those great 
movements whioh have made the Nineteenth Ctotury 
a century of Ohristian Missions? 

T. GASQUOIKE. 



78 

In ans-wer to the last question: Do yon propose to 
abide in this work so long as yon apprehend that you 
may glorify God most by so doing ? there is a pathetic 
note pointing to the days of persecution as possibly not 
over : " I regard the work of the Ministry so deUghtful 
and so important, that I purpose never to desert it, 
either from a Begard to Ease and carnal pleasure on 
the one Hand, or to Sufferings and Persecutions on the 
other. I hope I can look forward to either, and say with 
something of the temper of that excellent Apostle, whom 
I would always study that I may always imitate, ' None 
of these things move me, neither count I my life dear 
to me that I may finish my course with joy and the 
ministry which I am receiving from the Lord.' " With 
these solenm and tender words the young minister closes 
his vows. How faithfully they were kept the story of 
his life makes clear. 

The closing words of the "Confession" likewise are 
noteworthy, as setting forth the spirit that was always 
seen in the man. " This I offer not as a complete ab- 
stract of the Christian Bevelation, but as such an 
Account of my own Belief as the Occasion required and 
present convenience would admit. I have nothing 
farther to add, but that tho' I have us'd some humane 
Phrases which seemed to me properly to express the 
sense of Scripture, yet I would by no means offer any 
of them as a Standard by which opinions are to be tried, 
nor quarrel with any who may not be thoroughly satis- 
fied with them. For it is one very important Article of 
my Faith that I am bound iu Duty eiffectionately to es- 
teem and embrace all those who practically comply with 
the Design of the Bevelation, and Love our Lord Jesus 
Christ in sincerity, how much so ever they may differ 
from myself in their Language or their Conception 
about any speculative Points." 

T. GASQUOINE. 



TO 



THE MARKET HARBOROUGH 
OHUROH. 

The church at Market Harboroueh dates very nearly 
from the Ejectment of 1662. Matthew Clarke, de- 
prived' of the living of Narborough, was the pastor of 
a dissenting congregation- in Market Harborough in 
1673. This dissenting church may have been formed 
eleven years before oy Thomas Lawry, the ejected 
minister of the parish. Mr. Clarke was to preach at 
Ashby in the morning, and at Harborough in the 
afternoon. In 1684 and subsequent years Mr. Clarke 
wa« assisted in his pastoral duties by his son, also 
named Matthew. The son removed to London, where 
he died in 1726, the father died at Norwich in 1708. 
Mr. Clarke was succeeded by the Rev. David Some, 
who it is believed was for a short time his assistant. 
He took the sole charge of the church in 1709. Dod- 
dridge, while minister at Kibworth, went to reside 
at Harborough with Mr. Some; and in 1825 the ar- 
rangement was made of a joint pastorate of Har- 
4>orough, Aigftiiey, and Kibworth. Doddridge fre- 
quently preached at Harborough, in the Old Meeting 
House, in Bowden Lane. There, too, stood, on part 
of the site of the present Independent Chapel, the 
Academy which was founded by Doddridge at the 
urgent request of Mr. Some, but which remained 
there so few months before its removal to North- 
ampton. The Harborough Church, therefore, has a 
lively interest in the bi-centenary celebrations at 
Doddridge Church, Northampton. They rejoice with 
their Northampton brethren, and bear tribute to the 
memory of Dr. Doddridge, giving thanks to God 
that He so richly endowed him and so largely^ used 
him. The church at Market Harborough claim not 
only their share in the wealth which God dispensed 
through Doddridge to the universal Church, but some 
special share in it by reason of the doctor's connection 
with them. Among Dr. Doddridge's many pubhcitions 
is " Sermons to Young Persons " on six subjects (1735) 
dedicated " To the Young Persons belonging to the Dis- 
senting Congregations at Hinckley, Harfjorough, and 
Kibworth, in Leicestershire, and at Ashley, and North- 
ampton." 

After Mr. Some's d-eath in 1737, there were several 
Rhort pastorates, among them being that of Mr. Isaac 
Wilkinson, one of Dr. Doddridge's pupils. Stephen 
•Addington, D.D., another student of Doddrdge's, 
commenced a pastorate of 28 years in 1753. He left 
Harborough in 1781, to become tutor at the Mile End 
Acadenay. The succeeding ministers were Rev. George 
Gin, 1782—1818 ; Rev. WiiHam Gear, 1822—1830 ; Rev. 
William Wild, 1831—1835; Rev. Henry Toller, 1836— 
1859; Rev. William Clarkson, 1861—1871; the Rev. 
W. E. Morris, 1872. 

W. E. MORRIS. 



80 

SERVICE AT MARKET HABBOROUGH. 

In view of the celebrations at Northampton of the 
bi-centenary of Doddridge Congregational Church, 
and the connection of Dr. Philip Doddridge with 
Market Harborough Independency, the pastor of the 
Congregational Church (Rev. W. E. Morris) preached 
a sermon having special reference to the double event, 
an Sunday morning. [September 22nd, 1895.] The 
hymns sung were all composed by Doddridge, the one 
before the sermon being the familiar "0, God of 
Bethel, by whose hand." The rev, gentleman took as 
the basis of his discourse 1 Corinthians, iii., 21 and 
22, "Therefore, let no man glory in men. For all 
things are yours : whether Paul, or ApoUos, or Cephas, 
or the world, or life, or death, or things present, 
or things to come; all things are yours." At the 
outset Mr. Morris conveyed to his congregation an 
invitation from Northampton to join in the celebra- 
tions there during the week. Prominent among the 
men of God, he said, who would be upon the lips 
of those attending the bi-centenary services, would be 
that of Dr. Philip Doddridge, who was pa»tor of 
Castle-hill, Northampton, from 1729 to 1751. It was 
an interear^ng thing for any community to know that 
8 sister church was celebrating such an event, but 
apart from and above any such interest they might feel 
in this particular event as marking a very important 
era in church history, they at Market Harborough 
were interested in a way that no other Christian 
Church was interested by reason of the bond of 
sympathy that there was between that church and 
I)odaridge Chapel. Dr. Doddridge, he reminded them, 
ministered to that church (Market Harborough) as a 
co-operator with the Rev. David Some in 1725. A 
picture of the Market Harborough Church hung in 
the vestry of Doddridge Church, and in the Har- 
borough vestry was a picture of Dr. Doddridge. He 
would like them to give voice to the fact of their 
rejoicing on this occasion with the gladness that 
filled the hearts of their Northampton brethren, 
pra3ring to the Great Head of the Church that His 
benediction might be upon them. Some of them were 
going to Northampton on the following day, imd they 
would be glad to take a message of sympathy from 
Harborough. In response to the rev. gentleman's 
request, the whole con^egation gave token of assent 
to this suggestion by rising in their places. 

The sketohes of the old Meeting House and the old 
Man.8e, at Market Harborough, by Mr. H. D. Turner, 
are, by permiss-ion, reproduced from "The Album 
of the Northamptonshire Oongregationai Churches," by 
the Rev. T. Stephens, B.A. 






NOTES AND OOBRBOTIONS. 



Page 5. 

THE NOBTHAMPTON CHUEOH COUNCILS. 

1136. Northamptomense ; of Norbhampton, 29th of 
March, wherein the archdeacon Bohert was 
elected bishop of Exeter. 

1164-. Northamptoniense ; of Northampton, 13th of 
October, wherein the archbishop of Canter- 
bury was condemned as a perjurer and trai- 
tor. 

1176. Northamptoniense; of Northampton, 25th of 

January, wherein the^ arcbbishop c^ York en- 
deavoured to compel the Scotch bishops to 
acknowledge his jurifidiction. 

1177. Northamptoniense ; of Northampton, in January, 

wherein king Henry II. restored to the earl 
of Leicester his lands which had been for- 
feited, substituted canons regular for canons 
secular in the church of Waltham, and con- 
certed with the archbishop of Canterbury, 
the removal of the nuna of Fontevrault to 
Ambresbury. 

1211. Northamptoniense; of Northampton, wherein 
King John was exoommunicat«d by the papal 
legate. 

1265 or 1266. Northamptoniense ; of Northampton, 
wherein sentence of excommunication was 
pronounced against all bishops and clerks who 
had favoured Simon Montfort against Henry 

m. 

Sir Harris Nicolas. 

THE OHUBCH AND CIVIC AUTHOBITT. 

There is preserved '^The orders & dealing in the 
church of Northampton established & sett up by the 
consent of the Bishop of Peterborough the Maior is breth- 
ren of the Ijowne there & others the Queenes Maties 
Justices of Peace within the said Countie and Towae 



82 



taken & foande the 5th dale of Jane 1571.^^ The orders 
are sixteen in alL Number 7 ordains a *^ generall com- 
vnyon" once every quarter in every parish church in 
Northampton ; and the eighth requires the minister and 
churchwardens to call at every house before hand to 
obtain the names of communicants ; and if ** dyscorde ** 
■ is found to bring the ^ pties " before the Mayor and his 
brethren for " reconsylement " and correction. Number 
9 says that the minister shall visit those who failed to 
"receave the comvnion accordinge to comen order"; 
and he and ** the maior &c." are to u«e means of per- 
suasion. Number 13 reads : " There is also a wekelye 
assembly evry thursdaye after the lecture by the Maior 
and his brethrene assisted with the Mynister and other 
gentillmen appointed to them by the Bisshop for tho 
correction of disoorde irade in the Towne . . . . 
wch faults are eche thursdaye psented vnto them in 
writinge by certain swome men appointed for that cervice 
in eche prishe, so the bysshopes aucthoritie & the Maiors 
ioyned together being assisted with certein other gentill- 
men in Comyssion of peace yll lieff is corrected G-odds 
gloary sett forthe and the people brought in good 
obedience." 

State Papers Dom. Eliz., vol. 78. No. 38. 1571. 

LOLLABDISM. 

"Anno 16, Bic. II. [1392-93].— A Complaint to ye 
King & Ooumcil, rgainst John Fox Major of North t 
&c. exhibited) ?n French by Richd Stormesworth Wool- 
man ; complaining yt ye si Major hath psumed by colour 
oi his Office tio u^e Royal |)ower & auctority of Holy 
Kirke m ye »d Town authorising ye Lollards to preach, 
naaugre yo Bp of Lincoln &; liis Ourates, notwith^^tanding 
their Inhibicons. That ye sd Majr is a Lollard. . . 
That ye sd M«.jr hath made y© whole Town of Noirtht 
in a manner to become Lollards, being vexatious to 
such' as are not. That he brought in one Robt Braibrok 
a Ohap],ain an Herretick to preach in AH Sts Church at 
Northt, maugre ye Bp &c. k one Parson of Wynkpole 
a Lollard to preach there, who ascended ye Pulpit, wn 
ye Viccar of ye Ohuroh, after the offertory, went to ye 
Altar to sing his Mass; whom ye sd Majr followed & 
took by ye Iwick of his Vestments to cause him to cease, 
till ye fld' Preacher hswl preaoh'd : k ye Vicar answer'd 
Qr offi possum. The sdi Pairson prea-ch'd there hia 
Lollardy in ye Afternoon too. . . . That "no action 
is there maintainable by ye Inhabitants against ye 
Lollards, during- this man's Majorat ty. . . . Tliat 
ye Oomissardes of ye Bp of Lincoin diaire not sit upon 
Lollardy in Northt, for fear of ye Major." 

MS. Top. Northants. c. 9. -pp. 154-6. Bridges' CoUectn 
Bodleian Library. 

" In the month of August [1557], Wm. Binsley, B.L. 
Ghancellor to th,e Bishop oi Peterborough, and after- 
wards Archdeacon of Northampton, pronounced sentence 
of death against one John Kirde (a native of Syreshaon, 
in this county), in itlie Church of All Saints, for denying 
the Popish tiran'substaflitiationi; and in September fol- 
lowing, by command of Sir Thomas Treaham, then 
sheriil of the county of Northampton, he was led by his 
officers to th^ stone pits without the north gate of the 
town, and theise bmnt. On being offered his pardon when 
^ed to the stake (by a priest of the name of John Rote, 



tihen \ioax> of St. Giles's), on cond&tion that lie irould 
recant, ho replied that he had his pardon by Joint 
Ouist, &c." 

Freeman's " Histoiy of the Town of NopthiazDpton." 

"Hie dxarchwardena of All Saints, Northamptoa, ^rere 
excommundcated on Janaaiy 12th, 1638, for disobeying 
the monitioa of the Archbishop of Canterbury. 

Calendar of State Papers, Dom. 1637-8. 

THE ORIGIN OF .CASTLE HILL MEETING. 

It would satisfy f*ome1fliing more and better than 
curiosity if the origin of the mother Nonconformist 
Ghtiroh in Northampton could be made perfectly dear. 
But the very obscurity thab gathers about the origin is 
of itself sumdant to suggest thai its daie is poasibhr 
further beck Iftian has sometimes been supposed. It 
may be taken as perfectly certain- -that a Nonconformist 
coi^regation did not suddenly spnns^ dn4>o existence 
in 1674 or 1675 when the Bev. Samuel Blower apnean 
as the pastor. 

It htEus (been customary to suggest that, as Mir. 
Jeremiah Lewis resigned the vicarage of St Giles's 
at ithe ejectment, a number of has pairishioneirs, who 
sympathised with him, lielped to form, a Nonoonfonoiflt 
Church, and that this is the church which is now 
associated with Castle Hill. lit may he weU to examine 
this claim. 

The kite Mr. William Mobbs, so well known an Nortih- 
ampton, as an enthusiastic and painstaking ecclesiastical 
mvestigatoir, made a carefol examination of the 
registers of St. Giles's Parish, and 'has left a detailed 
and very valuable paper on this subject. Mr. Taylor 
has forwarded these notes to me; and, at all events, 
three points may be taken as perfectly clear. 

(1) Mr. Lewie did not conform in 1662. 

(2) Mr. Le^ne very shortly aftearwards wae seized wiui 
mortal sickness, and died in December of tdie eame year, 
as is shown in the following entry of the St. Giles's 
Begister of Burials: — 

" December 1662, Mr. Jeremiah Lewis Vicker of the 
Parish was buried the xxixth day." 

(5) At that time there is no other Vicar, Mr. Lewis's 
successor not being appointed till 1663. 

Mr. Mobbs suggests the possibility that the cause of 
Mr. Lewis's Nonconformity was his sickness, that is, 
that he wae not able to incur the trouble <^mb would 
be necessitated by all the necessary changes. In this 
case Mr. Lewis could' ecarcely be epoken of as a Non- 
oonformiet at all. Mr. Mobbs, however, makes the 
suggestion douhtfuUy; and I think other notes of his 
show how improbable iit is. For insttuice, at the visita- 
tion of the Archdeacon of Northampton, held in Oct., 
1662, the living of St. Giles's was entered as vacant, 
which could scarcely have been if Mr. Lewis was simply 
laid aside by sickness, end so unable to make the 
obligatory changes. But, further, in the churchwardens' 
accounts for 1&2 and 1663, after the entries: — 
Item Payd the parri'tor for bringing the book 

of Common Prayer 10 

Item Payd' for the Common Prayer Book 10 8 



94 

followed 'by aaotber bearings on the absence of ilie 
yicar: 
Item pajd for a qttarb of Back for Mr. Price'» 

preaching, Sep. 28 18 

there is the ominous entry, 
Item -payd for -a letiter of ^uestration 10 

Again in the Account Book of the St. CKlei'* Gharitf 
Estates appear the following entries: — 
1661. 

Dec. 24. Paid to Mr. Lewis 4 

1662. 

May 16. Paid to Mr. Lewis 4 

Axig. Mr. Lewi« 

No date is given in the last line, no amount as 
paid, and the casting up of the column is correct, 
without including any payment for August. The 
reason may be obvious if Mr. Lewis is no longer Vicar, 
Otoe final record has to be noted. In the mandate for 
the induction of lus suoceasor, Mr. Poynter, in 1665, 1>be 
Uving is said to be vacant by the ** cession " (not the 
death) of the laat incumbent. I think it must be clear 
that in August, 1662, Jeremiah Lewis was distinctly Non< 
conformist. 

It does not follow, however, that his parishioners, or 
his parishioners alone, helped to form the first Noncon- 
formist Church. The necessary changes appear in Si. 
Giles's OhuT<di. Not only is the New Book of Oommon 
Prayer provided, and the ^'parritor" paid for bringing 
it; but we also read in the accounts: — 
Item Payd for taking down the Freabeterian 

font 4 

And no longer have we such an entry as, 

1662. Mar. 30. A Summons for ye SurpH«... 4 

There are, however, no clear records- of any of the 
St. G-iles's (pari-sihioners becoming Nonconformisit. Of 
course, it is most probable that some did. It is 
mot likely that «uch a ministry as Mr. Lewis's 
was exercised only amongst those who were not ready to 
share his Nonconformity. But in considering the con- 
ditions of a county town, it has to be remembered 
there was not only one parish in it. Although Dr. 
Simon Ford at All Saints' conformed, and Edward Fierce 
at St. Sepulchre's, and Edward Beynolds at St. Peter's, 
what was the condition of their parishes? There are 
plain indications of no small Puritan and Nonconformist 
elements for long remaining in the town after the well- 
known Puritan fervour of the sixteenth century, when 
Penry, Edward Snape, and Sir Richard' Knightley 
were men of mark and influence in the town and neigh- 
bourhood. 

In 1640 comnlaint was made against Dr. Samuel 
CHarke, at that time Rector of St. Peter's, that he had 
sent a man to Upton Ohurch to get the Oommunion 
table cut up and placed altar- wise, and he was ordered 
by the Government of the day to provide a new table 
as before, for the church, at his own charges. In 1635, 
on the other hand, Thomas Ball is charged by the 
Commissioner of Archbishop Laud with, among other 
irregularities, administering the Eucharist to non- 
kneeling communicants, and, though he indignantly 
denies the charge, his very defence shows that there 
were parishioners whose sympathies were with the Pres- 
byterian methods, for he offered to take his oath, and 
to prove by witnesses, that he had refused many of 



that kind. As late as 1687, longf after the time of 
Thomas Ball, there still are complaints of Presbyteruin 
irregTilarities lingering, and Bishop Thomas Cartwright, 
of Ohes-ter, vdsitdng- his native ftwwn, -where he had been 
a Grammar School boy, described how at all erenti 
some few, notwithstanding all his entreaties, wonld not 
come up to the altar for communion when he Ad- 
mini»teied the Sacrament. 

There is, however, one fact of which, I think, very 
special remembrance should be made. On Februaiy 
15th, 1670-1, Dr. John Conant was instituted to the 
vicarage of AH Saints. Now, who was this" John Oonant ? 
And, still more, how came he, above all others, just 
at that time to be appointed Vicar of All Saints ? It is 
well-known how, in lo61, when he was Bector of Exeter 
College, Oxford, he was appointed one of the memhexs 
of the Savoy Conference, which had been called by 
Charles 11., and how he sat there on the Presbyterian 
side. In 1662 came the Act of Uniform itv, and Dr. 
Conant resigned his Rectorship. Not onlv was Dr. 
Conant a man of great learning — ^with a Lfttin pun, 
it had been said of him. " Conanti nihil diflBcile " — but 
he was of temper so moderate, and spirit so gentle, 
that men scarcely knew how to classify him ecclesias- 
tically. "His temper was 90 much like that of his 
ejected brethren,'* says Calaany in the " Nonconformisf • 
Memorial," "that he was generally ranked by both 
parties amongst the Presbyterians all his days." One 
writer was at a loss to account for his being; a Nonooxx- 
formist so long; but others wondered that he ever 
conformed at all. Soon after he had resigned his 
position in Oxford, Dr. Conant, for family reasons, the 
rector of St. Peter^s being brother to his wife, came 
to live in Northampton, and in All Saints* parish. He 
was much beloved by the inhabitants, and his influence 
over t'hem became very great. 

Although we are assured by >hi» son, who publi<aihed 
a brief biography, that his father constantly refused 
to "lead on a party in the separation,** yet he makes 
plain how close were his relations with those who 
were worshipping" " in private congregations *' ; and 
the influence of his character and well-known opinions 
wdth his lon-g hesitation about conformity, m-uet un- 
doubtedly have been very great among the people. 
After long thoug^ht, 'he conformed, and' on September 
26th, 1670, was ordained priest by his father-in-law. 
Dr. Reynolds, Bishop of Norwich, a man of kindred 
spirit, and who also, although by different steps, and 
at different dates, was first Nonconiforznist and then 
Conformist. 

Immediately, many offers of preferment were made 
to him; but thf| vicarage of All Saints being vacant, 
and the gift of tne living being then in the hands of 
ttiose members of the Corporation who were parisli- 
ioners of All Saints, they im.portuned him to accept it. 
He willingly consented, nor would anything afterwards 
induce hun to leave a people so dear to him I think 
the influence of Conant is' a factor that cannot be over- 
estimated in judging of the conditions and even moral 
forces which led to the formation of the early Noncon- 
formist Church. 

Mr. Taylor suggests l^e possibility of even an efurlier 
date ahan 1662 for the beginning of such a church. 



86 

Tliia 3» by no means improbable. To give an example 
from a more noirth«trn county of tlie Midland-s, it is 
always stated that the Congreg-atdonal Ohurcli Otf Os-wes- 
try, of which for nearly sixteen years I was pastor, was 
founded in 1662, its first pastor, as is quite clear, being 
Kowland Nevet, the ejected Vicar of Oswestry. But 
there are still existing gv^avestones in a little Aacred 
ploit near the site of it^ first meeting place, bearing the 
dates 1657 and 1658. Here seem to be indiica*ions of 
an earlier " gathered " churoh, or else of, at all events, 
some group of Nonconformists, wbo, as was not un- 
usual in the time of tihe CJommonwealth, buried their 
dead awsy from consecrated ground near their own 
homes. 

In closing this note, it may be said, first, that Mir. 
Mobbs could find in the parish regi-aters no support of 
the story given in Oalamy that any Mr. Bennet ever 
refu-sed the living of St. G-iles's, and so made wav for 
Mr. Lewis; or that the gifti wias ever in the hands of 
the Eari of Northampton. If true, no record, at all 
events, appears there; and, secondly, that Jereoaiah 
Lewis wais the son of an earlier Jeremiah Lewis, who 
was Vicar of All Saints' from 1616 to 1629. He was the 
author of a sermon which was published in 1619, under 
the title, " The Doctrine of Thankfulness ; or, Israel's 
Triumph, Occasioned by the destruction of Pharaoh and 
his hoste, in the Bed Sea. A sermon preached in tlie 
Parish Church of All Saints', in Northampton, November 
5, 1618, by Jeremiaii Lewis, Preacher of God's Word 
there." The title is puritanic in tone ; the reference, 
however, is plainly to a celebration of the deliveirance 
from the Gunpowder Plot; but to adopt a phrase of 
Dr. Halley's, there was no possi'bihty of mistakiner 
the festival for a Popish celebration. The younger 
Jeremiah Lewis would preach on Christmas Day, and 
this was not usual amon^ the Puritans. Among the 
entries in St. Gales' Parish Register is : 
1658 Paid for a pint of Sack for Mr. Lewis 

preiaching on ahristmas Day 01 00 

T. GASQUOINE. 

Page 6. 

"The Copy of a Letter Written from North- 
ampton" (London, 1646), an eight -page tract, 
dated Nortihampton, January 28th, 164o, criticises 
statements "Whioh are very grosly misreported by 
the Diurnal, and Moderate Intelligencer." "The truth 
is," says the writer, "the County of Northampton are 
two much PRESBrrERiAN to be well spoken of in his 
books." The same pamphlet tell* of Master Salt- 
marsh preaching at Alballowes (AlkSaints' Church), 
Northampton, by command of " the^enerall," and of 
Master Dell, "the Chaplain to .the [Parliamentarian] 
Army," preaching there. A pamphlet by William 
Hartley ["The Prerogative Priests Passing - Bell," 
1651] tells of the opposition ol "Mr. Farmer, and 
Gore, &c., of Towoester," to Nonconformist preaching 
there, and of " Meetings " there. " Divers of the 
Separation met at Cornet Beads house in Towciter, 
and after one friendi had exercised his gifts," the 
congregation became -so large that they went outside, 
where " Farmer, Gore, and 'their adherents " attempted 
to create a disturbance. 



87 

EIGHABD HOOKE AND JOHN HARDING. 

In the Awards made by fhe Commissioners after the 
great firo of Northampton, 1675, is the ioUowimg: 

"Whereas the said Richard HookiB batn appeared in 
this Court of Judicature and, by his owne Consent It 
■was Ordered and. Decreed that Two hundred and 
Twelve foote in length & breadth should be taken 
away from the ground whereon the house of liiin tJhe 
«aid Bicbard Hooke lately stood in the Drapery to 
enlarge lane there leading out of the. said Drapery 
into the Markett place which lane was over against the 
Swan Inn in the Drapery &c." 

The lane leading to the Market Place can only be 
that now known as Os-bome'* Jetty. The Swan Inn 
was opposite : the passage leading to College-street 
Chapel retain-s the name for a portdon of the sit«. 

The Rev. E. N. Tom, rector of St. Peter's, North- 
ampton, has kindly furnished the following extracts 
from t5ie parish register recording the burials of 
Richard Hooke and John Harding: 

"Richard Hooke Gierke was bxiried the first dav of 
June One thousand six ihundred and -seventy nine.^' 

"Mr. John Harding Minister of the Oospell was 
buried the Sth day of December 1690." 

In Bridges' time there was a monument to each in 
the church, but neither now exists. They were in- 
scribed: — 

"Hie jacet Corpus Ricardi Hooke Artium Magistri 
et Servi Jesu Ciirisiti in Evangelic, Qui obiit trices- 
simo Junii 1679 ^tatis suae 67. 

Et Maria Hooke Uxor ejus Quae obiit 8 Feb. 1691. 
^tat. "S-uae 77." 

^*Mr. John Hardin-g Minister of Jesus Christ De- 
ceased December 6t'h Anno 1690." 

If Bridges correctly copied the inscription en Richard 
Hooke'-s monument there is «ome mistake. The register 
■says ihe was buried on June 1st, tJtie epitaph that he 
died a month later. Such discrepancies, however, 
between monumental inscriptions and parish registers 
are by no means uncommon. 

ROBERT MASSEY. 

Robert Massey's residence is suJOaciently identified 
by the following extract from the Fire Commissioners' 
Award already referred to. 

5th February, 1676, 
"Whereas the said Robert Massey hath lately Ex- 
hibited his Pebioon into this Court of Judicature 
thereby setting forth That the Peticonr is Tenant by 
Lease to the aforesaid Dr. Wake Master of the said 
Hospitall and his Co brethren of a Messuage with the 
appurtenances late standing and being in the said 
Towne of Northampton on the East side of the 
Ohecqr. or Markett place there." 

The Chequers' Inn was at the corner of Market- 
square and Abington-street. Chequer is an abbrevia- 
tion of Exchequer. Tthe "Chequer Ward" at North- 
ampton was so named as it contained the office of the 
Exchequer. In 1209 King- John moved 'his Exchequer 
from London to Northampton. The Chequers' Inn 
was within the Chequer Ward. 



88 

ROTHWELL CHURCH AM) COLLEGE STREET. 

College Street Church was formed at Lady Fermor's 
house in the South Quarter, just off Bridge Street, 
Northampton, on October 27th, 1697. In the Roth- 
well Church Book is this entry: 

"1697, Nov. 2. The church consented, having heard 
the report of their messengers, to give the church 
newly constituted at Northampton the right hand of 
fellowship; but yet resolved to speak of it further 
on the Lord's Day." 

Prior to this, members of the RothweU Church 
met for worship at Northampton. We find in the 
RothweU Church Book severid entries for the year 
1696 referring to differences between members of 
College Street Church and Northampton members 
of the RothweU Church. The matters were duly en- 
quired into by the RothweU Church, as was meet 
that a sister church should. It was different with 
Castle Hill Church. One of the RothweU members 
attended Castle Hill Church, and was forbidden. The 
entry in RothweU Church Book, dated May 1st, 
1699, reads: 

" Ordered by the church that we write to Mrs. 
Hardin [a member residing at Northampton] to for- 
bear any communion with Mr. Hunt's people [the 
Church at Castle HiU] at the Lord's table till she 
has sa'tisfied tihe dhurch ifrom tlhem that they are a 
church rightly constituted, and that they own this 
as a true Church of Christ." 

How different to the entry dated February 1st, 
1701: 

"A letter ordered to be sent to Northampton to 
John Shelton, and another to the church there 
[College Street], to move them to a mutual and 
cordial reception of each other." 

A month later, on March 2nd, 1701 [1700-1] is the 
foUowing in the College Street Church Book: — 

"Bfo. Thos. Cooper k Bro. Jno. Payne order'd 
to go to the Church at Weeden to Enquire of them 
whether they hold Comunion with Mr. Hunts people 
[Castle HiU Meeting] or not." 

Eight years later, in 1709, there was a spirited 
controversy over this matter, when Mr. Tingey was 
"set apart" at Castle HiU. 

Page 7. 

THE REV. SAMUEL BLOWER. 

Calamy is responsible for the statement that the 
Rev. Samuel Blower left Woodstock for Northamp- 
ton. Where he was for the few years prior io 1674- 
is at present totally unknown. He was probably not 
at Northampton in 1672 when the licences (page 6) 
were granted to Nonconformists. A licence, how- 
ever, was granted on October 26th, of that year, to 
a Samuel Blower to be "a Congr. genaU teacher 
[Congregational general teacher] of Sudbury, in 
Suffolk." The Congregational Church at Friars' Street, 
Sudbury, claim this Samuel Blower as one of their 
early pastors. They have, however, no further in- 
formation about him than the issue of this licence. 
He evidently was not there long after the year 1672. 

"He [Blower] publi'slhed a funeral sermon for Mrs. 
Elizabeth Tub, on Psalm xviii., 46. Mr. Wood is 
wholly silent about this good man, and several others. 



which appears designed." (Calamy). No copy of thit 
publication is to be found in any of our public 
libraries, nor is it known that a copy exists any- 
where. 

EARLY CHUBOE MEMBERS. 

The following- is a list of tihe earliest Ohurch mem- 
bers in tlie bookjs at Castle Bill: 
1684 Matthew Scotit, died' May 28, 1686. 

William Burkitt, Bugbrooke 

Maiy Burkitt, died 1713 

John, Busworth, Duston 

Thomas Dust 

Richard Pendred 
Died June 10, 1736. The oldest Member of ye 
Church when I came wh was 1729. — ^Doddridge. 

Francis Ijankford, Wootton 

Wm. Maddock 

Saml. HiUTond, Duston 

Wm. Holloway, Hardingstone 

Elioabetb Rappet 

Thomas France, died Maaxdi 13, 1710-20 

Mary Tebut, Ov^rsbon© 

Mary Hoby, Oyersrtonei 

Hestter Harris, Overston© 

Sarah Harris, Overstone, died April 27, 1706 

Thomas' Cooper, died November 1, 1697 

Edwd. Hodgkin, died January 12, 169- 

Samuel Welford, died Mardh 12, 1699 

Wm. Avery 

Malory Weston 
From 1736 ye Fiaifcher of ye Ohurcih. Died May 3, 
1748.— Doddridge. 

Georgie M-ason 

Hesitear Gamer, died' July 9, 1708 

Mary Woodford, died March- 14, 1699 

Ann Dunkley 

Anni Oldford, died September 14, 1702 

Sr4»asmah' Singleton 

Matthew Gibson 

Dorothy Whithorn, died November 17, 1702 

Eliza Scott, died 1710 

Eliza Tebut, died April, 1695 

Jane Blames', died March 24, 1704 

Ann Weirdtetai, died November 21, 1702 

Eliza Fowler 

Susannah Poole 

Judith Wilby, died' June 6, 1699 

Ann Webster 

Eliza Watts, died) June 22, 1696 

WILL OF THE REV. SAMUEL BLOWER. 

^'The last will k testament of Samuel Blower, of 
Abingdon, co. Berks, dated 16 June 1699. He ap- 
podnits (has cousin Bobenb Masih of Southam^ co. 
Warwick & his nephew John Green of Boston, co. 
Lincoln to be executors. He bequeaths to Elizabeth 
his wife all his houses and lands at Ensham, co. 
Oxford for her life & also a close of land near 
Banbury which latter is to go to Robert Mash on her 
decease. To his nephew Samuel Blower he leaves 
^0 per an. & the same to Dorothy Robinson (his 
nephew's mother) & her ihusband for their lives & 
after it is to go to another nephew Joseph BloVer, 
Turner of London. After his wife's deceoise the pro- 



90 

perty at Ensham which was settled upon him by 
marriage covenant is to ^ to his nephew John Green 
of Boston k to thn heirs of his body and failing 
such heirs to his (J. G.'s) sister Mary Sherlock of 
Boston & the heirs of her body k failing such heirs to 
her also then the property is to go to testator's 
nephew Joseph Blower k his children k for the 
support of his brother k sister Tyboth of Bowel. All 
ibis books, writings k papers to be carefully preserved 
by his cousin Mash k taken into his custody except 
some English authors which his wife desires to have 
for her own use. His wife to have the use of all 
his goods as she pleases for her life k afterwards 
they are to be divided amongst his relations k she 
is to be at Hberty to dispose of the green wrought 
bed & curtains k the silver salt k tumbler accord- 
ing to her pleasure. Any legari:ee who raises a 
dispute about this will is to forfeit his legacy. Wit- 
nesses. — John Payne, Richard Belcher, John Perry, 
John HoUoway. Proved 18 Oct. 1701." * 
Archdeaconry of Berks, Beg. 19. fol. 24. 

Pa^e 8. 
THE BEV. BICHABD DAVIS, OF BOTHWELL. 

The first Church Boo(k of (the Independent Church of 
Bothwell commences in 1656. The Bev. John Beverly, 
of Scotland, was the first pastor. He was succeeded in 
1662 by the Bev. Thomas Browning, who in turn was 
succeeded in 1689 by the Bev. Bichard Davis. A native 
of South Wales, he became minister at Bothwell aAi 
the age of 31. His dismission from the London Church, 
of which he was a member, and his reception as pastor 
at Bothwell, seems to have been in accordance with the 
Nonconformist usage of the times; but he soon threw 
estabhshed forms to the winds, and set an example of 
the free preaching of the Word that made most of the 
neighbouring Nonconformist ministers recoil from him 
wiwx ihorpor. We (have mentioned before that Nonfch- 
amptonshire was strongly Presbyterian. The Presby- 
terians continued many of the forms and manners of 
the Church of England they had left. Much importance 
was attached to orthodox precedents : they thought 
much of Church Q-ovemment through the Churches. 
They were far removed from Congregationalism. But 
Mr. Davis had respect for none of these things. Where- 
ever there were sinners to preacih to, (he was ready to 
preach. Wherever there were a few worshippers 
ready to receive the sacrament at his hands, he was 
there to administer it. He travelled East and West, 
and North and South, preaching the Christian Evangel. 
Members were added to his Church from all places 
within a circuit of very many miles. During the 25 
years he was pastor, members were admitted to the 
Bothwell Church from 76 places in Northamptonshire, 
14 in Bedfordshire, 24 in Cambridgeshire, 17 in Hun- 
tingdonshire, 7 in Leicestershire, and 2 in Buckingham- 
shire. He sent out many men without ordination to 
preach in the villages and towns; and even more than 
that, there is a list of 15 places (including Northamp- 
ton) at wihich Ghurdh Meetings of the Cftiuroh were hew 
outside of BothwelL No wonder the staid pastors 
steeped in Presbyterianism were alarmed. Some of 
them circulated a monstrous libel about him, " A Plain 
and Just Account of a Most Horrid and (Dismal Plague, 
begun at Bowell, alias Bothwell, in Northamptonshire.'' 
Aiter the issue of this book, ** The United Ministers in 



91 

ind about London " sent iome of their number to Ket- 
tering to hear evidence on a series of charges adYanoed 
against Mr, Davis. One of the charges was, "Mr. 
Davis and his preachers sent from the Church at Both- 
well set up Meetings in very many counties, to the ex- 
tent of s^bout fourscore miles." The names of 29 places 
are added. One charge was that ^* Several of these 
Meetings are in or near tihe places where diMemt- 
ing ministers have their stated congregations and 
Churches;" among them ** Northampton, where Mr. 
Blower is." This was in 1692. It is worthy of note 
tlhartf the charge was not of founding Ghurdhes in these 
various places, but of setting up Meetings. The pre- 
sent College- street Church was at that time merely an 
established Meeting : it was not enchurched until 1697 — 
five years later. The Bev. Samuel Blower, who left 
Castle-hill in 1694-, was one of the ministerial witnesses 
against Mr. Davis. It is gratifying to know that Mr. 
Davis outlived the jealous aspersions cast upon him. 

Page 10. 

THE GHUBCB DEED. 

3rd May 1695.— ^Deed Poll under the hand and seal 
of Thomas Warner of Dayentry in the County of North- 
ampton. 

Bedtes that Thomas Thornton late of the Town of 
Northaonpton gent deceased by his Will bearing date 
the 7th November A.D. 1669 amongst other things 
devised unto Mary Warner granddaughter of the said 
'Hiomas Thornton and (her heirs All those ihis two 
messuages houses or tenements with their appurten- 
ances situate in the said Town of Northampton in or 
near Castle Hills as hj the said Will might more fuUy 
appear. That the said Mary afterwards intermarried 
with one — Talbott of London pewterer which said — 
(i.e. Talbott) and Mary were both of them since dead 
leaving behind them a daughter named Joyce their 
only issue whereby the said estate and premises de- 
scended to and were become vested in the said Joyce 
as heir at law to (the said Mary her mother deceased. 

That the said two houses or tenements were de- 
molished and burnt down by a sudden fire which lately 
happened there the ground whereupon tihe same stood 
having ever since " laine wasit " and yielded none or 
very Uttle profit to the said Joyce. That the said Joyce 
being then an infant of 14- years and upwards had 
legally chosen and appointed the said Thomas Warner 
her utncle to be her guardian. 

The said Thomais Warner witlh the privity and upon 
the request and for the sole benefit of the said Joyce 
Talbott and in consideration of j^26 for the use of the 
said Joyce to him plid by Thomas Dust of the Town 
of Noi<tJhtoD in the County salforefiaid Bicbard Pendrick 
of the said Towne of Northton Currier William Burcott 
of Bugbrooke in the said County Yeoman John Buswell 
of Duston in the said County Yeoman Bobert Chambers 
of the said Towne of Northton Gent John Sanders of 
the said Town of Northton Currier George Mason of 
the said Town of Northton Shoemaker and Thomas 
Babbitt of Little Hoaton in the said County Grocer 
ait sealing etc. (The receipt etc. aoknonyledg^) — (The 
said Thomas Warner) had granted etc. and by 
those presents did grant bargain enfeoff and sell All that 
Toft piece plot or paroell of ground whereon the said 
two houses or tenements lately stood and late in the 
tenure or occupation of Widow Golby and Thomas 
Mawbut All which premises were situate in the parish 



of SK Pdt«M in the «aid Towne of Noiihton between 
St. Mary's Ohurchyard there on the South side thereof 
and a g^reat Dung^ hill or place of rubbis(h on the North 
side thereof Together with all outhouses etc. And aU 
t^he e»tate etc. £a.d all deeds etc. 

To have and To hold the said Toft or plot of 
^ound and premises thereby granted and sold with the 
appurtenances unto the said Thomas Dust, Bichard 
Pendirick, William Burcott, John Buswell, Robert 
Chambers, John Sanders, George Mftson, €ind Thomas 
Babbitt, their heirs and assigns. To the use of the 
■aid Thomas Dust and others, (naming them) and of 
their heirs and assigns for ever. 

Usual covenants for title by the said Thomas Warner 
including a covenant that he would at the cost of the 
grantees cause Joyce Talbott as soon a» she should 
attain 21 and in case she should happen to die before 
then her heirs to execute further assurances. 

Executed by Thomas Warner in the presence of 

Ann Wimbush and William WaUis. 
Memorandum indorsed of livery of seisin by 

Thomas Warner to Thomas Dust for himself 

and the other grantees in the presence of 

"Will Sharpe, Wm. WaUis." 

Pag* 11. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS SHEPHERD. 

Penitential Cries, in Thirty-two Hymns. Begun by 
the Author of the Songs of Praise and Midnight Ory; 
audi oarried on by another haiid [Thomas Shep- 
herd]. Licensed) Sept. 12tih, 1693. Th© Secxmd Edition. 
London, 1693. 

Mr. Sedgfwick ^ves the first edition of the Penitential 
Cries as heme puoliahed with Spiritual Songs, or Son^s 
of Praise to Almighty God, by the Rev. Jo^ Mason, m 
1692; but we have not been able to trace a copy. 
Eighteen Editions have been published, the last being 
(by Mr. Sedgwick, 1859. 

Several Sermons on Angels. With a Sermon on The 
Power of Devils in Bodfly Distempers. By Thomas 
Shepherd. 1702. 

Thomas a^nst Bennett, or The Protestant Dis- 
senters Vindicated from the Charge of Schism. By 
Thomas Shepherd. 1702. 

A Discourse of Schism. Written by Way of Letter 
to Three Dissenting Ministers in Essex, viz., Mr. Gilson 
and Mr. Gledhill, of Colchester, and Mr. Shepherd, of 
Braintree. With an Answer to a Book Intituled, Thomas 
against Bennet : or, The Protestant Dissenters Vin- 
dicated from the Charge of Schism. By Tho._ Bennet. 
Cambridge, 1702. 

Three Sermons on Separation, in Answer to Mr. 
Bennetts Discourse of Schism. By Thomas Shepherd 
1702. These discourses are inscribed *to the Dis- 
senting Churches in Essex, with their bishops and 
deacons.' Thomas Bennett was rector of St. James*, 
Colchester, from 1700 to 1716, when he resigned, and 
became vicar of St. Giles', Cripplegate. He was the 
editor of "An Abridgement of the London Cases," 
which was a series of treatises against the Dissenters, 
published by some of the London clergv in 1684-. 

Some Considerations on Mr. Bennet'® Defence of 
His Discourse on Schism. By Thomas Shepherd. 
1703. 



93 

An Answer to Mr. Shepberd^s Consadefraikions on tbe 
Defence of the DiBcourse of Schism. By Tho. Bennet. 
Oaoibridge. 1703. 

A Treeitise of Dirine Wofrship. Witfa. a Freface con- 
taining an Account of the Aivtdqaity, Occasion, and 
Grounds of Non- Conformity. Also a Postscript in 
Defencei of a Book, -eoiitituled ** Thomci« agaias^ Ben- 
net." By Thomas Shepherd. 1703. 

Zaocihens's Conveivion, in Seyeral Sermons. By 
Thomas ShefyhsErd. 1703. 

Two Sermons: The Firsts Preadh'd before bd. As- 
sociation of Ministers [May 10, 1715]; The Second to 
Married People, Shewing the Mustnal Helpfulness of 
tihat State. By Thomas Shepherd. 1715. 

Discourses on Several Subjects: On Zacoheus's Con- 
yersion;' Infant Baptism Made Plain; A Guide to 
Charity ; A Discourse on Lots, shewing that all Use of 
Lots, in a Sportive Way, is utterly unlawful; On 
Ohrisfs Agony in the Garden; the Loving Pei^itent; 
Faithfu^ Ministers the Bridegroom's Friends; The 
Mutual Helpfulness requisite in a Married State; 
Eight Sermons on Angels; The Life of Shadows. By 
Thomas Shephetrd. 1726. 

THE EEV. T. SHEPHERD'S EPITAPH. 
Dr. Charles Stanford, in a letter to Mr. John Taylor, 
dated June 3, 1881, writes: 
My dear Sir, 
A little time ago I made «o(|uiry, through a friend, 
as to whether any traces still exist of Thomas Shepherd, 
at Booking, and the resolli may perhaps be a small 
item worth including in your Shepherd collections. 

The correspondent, a <stTan^er to me, says that Mr. 
Shepherd's name had passed out of memory there, 
but ithat my lietter led to enquiry ; and at 'length the 
moss was cleared off a stone near the vestry door, when 
the following inscription on it was made out : 
"The iieth the Body 

of 
Thomas Sh^herd 

who died 

January 1739 

Aged 73 years 

Pastor of this Qiurcb for 

30 years 

He was owned of God in the Conversion of many Souls.*' 

This is sill that can be made out at Bocking. 

Fsisbhfully yours, 

C. Stantobd. 
Page 13. 

THE REV. JOHN HUNT. 

The Presbyterian rigidi^ of Castle ELill was in part 
broken down during Mr. Hunt's pastorate. He was by 
no means a Congregationalist in the modem sense of 
the word. He was one of the absent ministers who were 
willing to give evidence at the Kettering Visitation 
a^inst the Rev. Richard Davis. At that time he was 
pastor of the Church at Royston in Cambridgeshire. 
His neighbour and controversial opponent, the Rev. 
Joseph Hussey, pastor at Hog Hill, Cambridge, was one 
of the witnesses against Davis, but he afterwards ex- 
pressed his regret at having opposed him. 



96 

that ttiey ^eat to other Churches, but owned vt 
neither oar Church, nor others were particularljr 
nominated by their Church but that ye Church left it 
to Mr. Tingey & ye Deacons to send to -what Churches 
they thought xneet : k yt they sent for our Messengers 
to signify their deaire of Com union with us as a 
Sister Church, if we would, if not it should lie at our 
door, they further signifying th-at they could not hold 
Oomunion with us, unless we did with them, be- 
cause Comunion of Churches ought to be reciprocal: 
k so desired our Church might 'be acquainted here- 
with. Hereupon iour Ohuxtch contsidering hereof, 
unanimously declared (nemu oonitradic) & parsed 
it into an Act: That they are willing k ready & think 
it their Duty to hold Comunion with them a» a Sister 
Church k they can do it upon good grounds : But 
finding that (in order to our coming- to a resolution 
about this matter) several tlhing<s will fall in as re- 
quisite k necessary to be considered debated, which 
(for want of time) we could not now possibly do, ye 
Church resodrred to defer it till another opportunity, 
appointing Bro. Moore to acquairif iMr. Tingey here- 
with, k withall to tell (him. That he, nor that 
Church, need not expect any Messengers from our 
Church at his OrdinoJtion (as desired) for ye reason 
above mentioned. 

Thus it was that College- street was not represented 
at Mr. Tingey's ordination. A month later we find 
that College-street sent a *' letter of Enquiry'' to 
Castle Hill asking: 

1. How their Church was fir&t founded, whether 
according to Gospel Order, or not, k if there was 
any deficiency therein, whether it has since been re- 
pented of, k matters (as to that) rectified or not. 
And 

2. Whether they allow their members to hear ye 
Ministers of ye Church of Eng. or not. Also 

3. Whether they do profess k maintain Comunion 
with ye Presbyterian Churches (so called) or not. 

Lastly, whether they judge it their indispensible 
duty (« consequently make Conscience thereof), strictly 
to observe k exercise ye Gospel Order k Discipline 
that Christ has eirjoyn'd his Churches, k particu- 
larly in dealing with offending Members, whether 
Officers or other, or not. 

Nothing came of it; for on February 8th, 1710i 
we have the following in the College Street Book: — 

Feb. ye 8th 1709-10. 
At our Church Meeting : A Letter being sent some 
time ago to this Church from Mr. Tingey's people 
in answer to that of ours order'd (May ye 1st) to 
be given to Mr. Tingey, for want of time was not 
(•Who' read before) consider'd till now: therfore now 
this Church consulting about it, upon a deliberate 
perusal thereof order another Letter to be drawn 
up, in way of a short Beply to theirs, especially 
k chiefly for to clear our selves from their Charge of 
our allowing our Church Members to hear at ye 
Pulbhck places, but not to concern ourselves in an- 
swering fully to what they write, as judging it in- 
significant k fruitless (considering what spirits they 
appear to be of) to attempt ye prosecuting of ye 
Matter (viz.. Communion of Churches) at first pro- 
posed as before. 



d7 

The two churches did not get on very well together. 
Members of Oastle Hill had great* difficulty in getting 
theip dismission to College- street, if they got it aA^ alL 
Only two years later -we find the following in College- 
street Church Book. It is dated February ISth, 1712. 

Feb ye 13th 1711-12. 
At our Church Meeting: The Church havjiig In- 
telligenoe of Mrs. Davis as to her sitting down. oA ye 
Lord's Table with Mr. Tingey»s people, on Jan. ye 6th 
(tho' she knew that to be ye da^r whereon we likewise 
broke Bread) having sate down with us on Dec. ye 16th 
k sittine down witdi us again on Jan ye 27tb & de- 
daring her design to be to sit down withMr. Tingey'e 
people as well as with, us, unless we forbid her: This 
her practice k declared resolution was now considered 
of, & tho' ye Majority, judged it to be ye Churches duty 
to allow her ye liberty & prvviled^ of sitting down wxtfli 
us, till we could 'hear ye determination of the Chun^ 
Kt Bofthwell concerning her practice &c yet because 2 
or 3 amongst us dectered they oould not be satisfied 
that 8fhe should so do ; the Church unandmoualy agreed 
that we ought to prefer ye kee^^ing peace amongst oar 
selves k so rather to prohibit her sitting down with 
us, itihaci that anvof our own Church members should be 
uneasy. Therefore Bro: Bass and Bro: Cooler 
were appointed by ye Church to go to her k a>cquaint 
her with ye Churches Condusion, k so to desire her to 
desist k forbear sit^n^ down any more with us, till we 
oould have further Satisfaction about her. And a Letter 
was ordered to be drawn up by Bro: Moore to ye 
Church at BothweH to inform them of her said practice 
&C, desiring their Answer witb what convwiient apeed 
they can, with their determination upon thia matter. 

** Mrs. Davis " seems to have been a member of the 
Bothwell Church, living in Northampton, and com- 
muning as a rule with the College iStreet members. 
She was indisposed to accept the decision of tihe 
College Street Church, and appealed to her own 
Phurch at Bothwell. Under date March 30th, 1712, we 
^d the following in the Bothwell Church Book : 

A letter was read from Sister Davis in answer to 
the charge from Mr. Moore's Church at Northampton 
[College Street], wherein she asserts and proves by 
witnesses that in the first founding of Mr. Tingey's 
Church and in their after and present proceedings it 
is chiefly Congregational. The Church ordered to send 
this her answer to Mr. Moore's Church to know wbst 
they say to it. 

How the matter ended it is impossible to b9J» It is 
very much to be regretted that there is no record of 
the evidence tendered by Mrs. Davis'a witnesses. It 
would have thrown some lie ht on the origin of Castle 
Hill Church. The record, however, above shows con- 
chisively, as is shown by other evidence in the earlier 
pages of the book, that Castle Hill -was not originally 
a Congregational Church. Forty years after its en- 
churohing, it could only ba shown that it was 
"chiefly Congregational," that is, Presbyterian. 

Page 14 

DR. RIDGLEY AND MR. TINGEY. 

Dr. Bidglev's encomium of the Rev. Thomas Tingey 
is contained in the funeral sermon which was after- 
wards printed with the following title : 

A Sermon Occasioned by the Death of the Reverend 
Hr. Thomas Tingey, Who departed this Life November 



98 

1. 1728. Preached .to the Church of which he wa» 
PesltoT, Nov. 9. And published at their Beqneftt. 
With gome Additions. By Thomas Ridgley. 1729. 

He has, ever since he was employed in pnblick 
service, appear'd to have had a g^eat seal to do good 
to soiils. His metlhod of preaching was formerly, 
as well as of late, such as gave his hearers the 
greatest reason to oonclnde that his heart was in his 
work, and that it was not a light matter to him 
whether he did good in the course of his ministry 
or no. You are all witnesses what a flow of affection 
he had, with what earnestness he spake of divine 
matters, and how he always chose to insist on the 
most useful and important subjects, his great design 
being to advance the Mediator's glory. The doctrine 
of justification by Christ's imputed righteousness, was 
what he insisted much upon, as knowing that hereby 
a person may be enable^ to live safely, and die com- 
fortably ; and this he • had very much on his heart 
in his last sickness, and, so far as he was master 
of his own thoughts, he discovered his desire of 
adhering to this doctrine to the end. It was the 
practical' experience hereof, that occasioned him to 
say, when he apprehended himself to be struck with 
death, **thaJb his Master was now about to call 
him from his work," which he exprest with the 
greatest composure and resignation to the Divine 
wilL I have therefore chosen U) insist on this subject, 
as what I thought suitable to the present occasion. 

He has b«en very desirous upon all occasions to 
preach the Gospel, where ever any serious Christians 
were disposed to attend on it; he laboured beyond 
measure, beyond his strength, and I am apt to think 
that his constitution was broke by that means, be- 
fore he came among us: it was indeed a little re- 
paired by means used to preserve health, but far 
from being a strong constitution, which had been 
weakened in the best employment, by serving his 
dear Bedeemer. 

THE BEV. THOMAS TINGEY. 

In the copy of the Bunhill Fields Book of Burials at 
the Heralds College is the followinig entry of tbe 
burial of tihe Bev. Thomas Tingey: 

"1729 Nov. 6. Mr. Tingey, S. AnW. Hoi." [St. 
Andrew's, Holbom.] 

In the same volumes are copies made by Dr. Bippon 
of the monumental inscriptions formerly in Bunhiilil 
Fields. They include: 

Mrs. Mary Tineey ob Jany 1 1758 set 38. 

Mrs. Martha Tmgey ob March ye 29th 1762 set 82. 

Mrs. Hepzebeth Tingey ob March ye 29th 1762 set 82. 

Mr. John Tin«rey died 30 Sep 1773 in 68th yr of his 
age. 

Mrs. Hannah Tingey ob Feb 11 1781 set 66. 

Page 15. 

The Dutch tiles from wihicih Doddridge learned his 
first Scripture lessons are now very uncommon. A very 
fine collection existed until very recently in Mercers^- 
row, Northampton, now part of Messrs. Neudegg's pre- 
mises. They were removed by the owner at the time ui 
the alteration. They had evidently been fixed in the 
room at the time of the erection of the building, vei^ 
soon after the great fire of 1675. 



rage 17. 

Line 5 from bottom, ^^^S" should be ^'ZS." 

Page 19. 

THE INVITATION TO DB. DODDRIDGE. 

The foUowing is a copy of the invitation to Dr. Dod- 

cUidge* preserved in ithe Vegtry of Castle Hill Chmdh. 

To 

The Sevd. Mt. Doddridge 

In 

HarboroDgh. 

The Church of Christ in Northampton eendeth greeting. 

Bevd. Sr, 

^ The dispensation of Gk>da providence to- 
wards ns, in suffering the removal of our late Pastor 
from OS, is very AwfoU, and we hope hath lay with 
T^eigbt upon all our heairts, and has put us upon prayer 
and Supplication to God the great Shepheid, that he 
would appear for us and direct us in this Difficult and 
Weighty matter, and send one amongst us that he will 
Eminedtly own, and make a great blessing unto us. 

Sr, We have had some taste of your Ministerial 
abilities in your occasional labours amongst us, which 
gave a general Satisfaction to the Congregation, but the 
matter being so im.portant, we Qmm.bly apply our selves 
to you, that you would come to us and preach amongst 
us a month as a Candidate in oirder for whole Satisfac- 
tion, you being the first after Mr. Miles (that has been 
Invited on such an account. We shall leave our Breth- 
ren that bring this to use what further arguments they 
think fitt wth you, to accept of this Invitation. And 
shall recommend you to the Wisdom and Conduct of 
the divine Spirit and continue our Prayers and suppli- 
cations to the Greait God for our Direction, and do Sub- 
scribe our names under written by the order and Con- 
sent of the whole Church. 

Sept. 26, 1729. 

Geo. Mason Malory Weston 

Wm. Bliss Bich. Norton 

Edward DanUey Wm. Avery 

Bichard Pendred Wm. Manning 

Henry Bunyan James Haokleton 
Benj. Knott 
Josiah Brine 

DB. DODDBIDGE'S OBDINATION. 

The certificate, of which the following is a copy, it 
fastened in Dr. Doddridge's own oopy^ of Vol. I. d his 
"Expositor," now in New College Library, St. John's 
Wood, London. The preface to the "Expositor" is 
dflited Nov. 27, 1738. The names of places between 
brackets are in the doctor's own handwriting. 

Certificate of the Ordination of Dr. Doddbidoe. 
We whose Hands are hereunto Subscribed, do hereby 
certify all whom it may concern, that Mr. Philip Dod- 
diidgpe of Northampton, having addressed himself to us 
Ministers of the Ghospell, desiring to be ordained a Pres- 
byter, we being sufficiently assur'd of the unblameable- 
ness of his Conversation and Proficiency in his Studies, 
proceeded solemnly to set him apart to the Office of the 
Ministry and the Pastorall Care of the Church of North- 
ampton by the Laying on of Hands, with Fasting and 
Prayer, at the Town of Northampton aforesaid, on the 



100 

Nineteenth Day of March 17, 29--30. And therefore 
Egteem and declare him to be a lawfoll and sufficiently 
Authorised Minister of Jesus Christ, and heartily re- 
commend Him and his Ministry to the divine Blessing. 

Present and Consenting :— ^ Witness our Hands : — 

J. Brogden [Wigston] ? J. Norris [Welford] 

Sobt. Dawson [Hinckley] g. S. Clark [S. Albans] 

Ja. Watson [Leicester] 

I— iS^ Edw. Brodharst [Birm- 
pi ingham] 

5s Tho. Sanders [Kettering] 

&& J. Drake [Yardley] 

A W. Hunt [Newport] 

Page 20. 

DODDRIDGE AND ADULT BAPTISM. 

In Oollege-streei Chuirclh Books is the foUowdng, in 
the haiKNrril/ing of Dr. Byl'Ond : 

'' In connexion with the Names o<f Boomer and Bogers 
two proofs should be mentioned of bbe candour of Dr. 
Doddridge. Doctor Doddridge (had several Anti- 
psedobaptists who were membH&rs of bis church and 
when persons of that persuasion proposed themselyes 
for admission, the Minister who was invited to baptize 
them by dmrneTsion had itihe Free u«e of the Doctors 
Ves-tiy to pray with Candidates and exhort them 
before they went down- from "tihenoe to the Water. 
This was the case when Mr. Boomer who was then re- 
moved 1)o Newport PagneU came ovei to B&ptize 
Miriam Barrett, who joined the chuirah ait Castle Hill 
in the Doctors- time but removed to College Lane after. 
Aiter my father came to Northampton her sistetr and 
another lAged Member of our church present at the 
tame told me they well remembered this circum- 
stance. I have heard several aged people mention it 
as a well known instance of Dr. Doddridge's candid 
spirit that he once was present at the river side when 
Mr. Bogers Ba;ptized and that when Mr. Bodgers came 
out of the water the Doctor pulled off his own cloak 
whidh he usually wore on the Lords day and offered to 
put it on Mr. Bodgens observing at the same time in 
the audience of all >the spectatorts <that it was a very 
solemn ordinance." 

^Criam Barrett joined' Doddridge Ohuioh on Jan. 
4th, 1733 [4]. 

The usucJ place for baptisms at this period was 
in the eastern reach of the Nene under tl^ Castle 
Walls. The roadway, then called Castle Lane, lead 
direict from the chapel, almost in a straight line to 
the river's brink, a distance of about 200 yards. This 
was the spot where Carey was baptised. When the 
present Castle Station was built the whole course of 
the river was diverted, both streams being taken 
through a new cut to the westward. 

Page 21. 

** George HI." in the penultimate line should be 
"George IL" 

Page 22. 

DODDBIDGE'S FIBjST BESIDENGE. 
The following, copied from the original rate roll, 
indicates the relative value of Dr. Doddridge's first 



101 

Northampton residence, his honse in Marefair, as far 
as that street is concerned: — 

An Assessment or Tax made the Twenty-fourth day 
of September Anno Dni 1731 for raising the annual 
some of one hundred pounds for the term of seven 
years now next coming for the maintenance of the 
Vicar of All Hallows in the Town of Northampton in 
lieu of Tyths pursuant to an Act of Parliament made 
in the Nine and twentieth year of the Reign of Charles 
the Second late King of England etc. intitled An Act 
for s«(btlin*g a Maintenance on <the Viccar of All Hallows 
in the Town of Northton. 

The Mare Fair. John Burd for a Stable... 00 00 04 

Hugh Sharp 00 08 00 

William Aspftand 00 00 04 

Mr. Nathaniels Easton for a Malting... 00 03 06 

Francis Atterbury 00 01 00 

Richard Wall 00 04 00 

Fhineas Clements 00 00 08 

Charles Gore, Esq 00 14 00 

Thomas Miarriott 00 02 06 

Williams 00 00 04 

William Bradshew 00 00 04 

John Fox 00 01 08 

Widow Miles 00 00 04 

John Stormer 00 01 00 

Mr. William Sheppardf's house 00 05 00 

Mr. Dodderidge 00 03 03 

Sr. Arthur Hesilrige for a garden ... 00 00 08 

William Ward 00 02 00 

Edward Briggs 00 01 00 

Bartholomew Charlton jun 00 02 ' 08 

Richard Hedge 00 01 00 

Stephen Sharp 00 02 00 

Vage 24. 

DODDRIDGE AT DELAPRE. 

The followdng letter from Doddridg<e ito his wife ma,y 
be naentioned in conaiection with ^e dea)th of their 
daughter, Betsy. It shows the domestic side of Dod- 
dmidge's character. The letter is not dated, and does 
not appear to have gone through the post. It« probable 
date is 1741. It is not included in his correspondence 
and diary, published isa five volumes. 

To my trusty and well-beloved Mrs. Mary Doddridge. 
•tihe dearest of all dears ; the wisest of all my earibhly 
councellora ; and of all my govemours the most potent 
yeti ye most gentle and moderate. 

My best Dear, — ^As you grow in every respect oon- 
iinuaJly more and more agreeable, it is no wonder that 
your letters yield me an increasing pleasure, your last 
in particular did «o, and I rejoice in ye hope that it is 
ye last I shall receive from you a long time. It doeis 
md-eed' grieve me to ithink how ssoon we must lose the 
smiall but very precious remainder of our dear Delapre 
friends, and how soon that favourite place will be as 
empty to us as formerly. Bub the hope of your return 
to Northampton, if throi ye Divine goodness it may be 
safe, a« I trust it will, gives me a very sensible sup- 
port. I can 'hardly bear this little delay, but think with 
a kind of extocy of ithab happy hour wh is to restkxre you 
to my longing arms. 

My venturing to -seib out as I purpose to do on Monday 
morning will, I hope, be es^teemed- a proof of this a« it 



102 

will more eridtatlj appeair -wihen yon come to bear aU 
ye ciTciimstanees of the tfbory. In ye meon time, I '^11 
know my dearest ^nll oootknie her prayers for me and 
her kind senttimenits of meu I will not antncdpate some 
airticlea of domeatick news, wh I ihop« to tedl you ere 
long in a miuch. efloeir end freer masuier. At pn»&at, 
my few remariating! momeint« are so cn>wded wiSi buri- 
nesa, <tliaib I mnst be obliged to conclude, amd uideeid I 
am 00 beartily weary wth ;^e hurr&ea of this tedious day 
tOiat I have very li*tle spiritA to enlarge it af I !had eve^r 
•o much time. I hope my deanest to go to bed and dream 
of you, and tis a scene wh I long for so eagerly that 
I hardly affl^ow my self time to teU you how — ^Affection- 
ately, entirely, and constantly. I am your own 

P. DODDBIDOB. 

My hxmible service to dear Miss Sally. I enclose 
a letter to her and another to John, wh I have just 
now reed from good Madam Collier. 

It was when the smoHl-pox was raging in the town 
that Mrs. Doddridge and her children fotuid a happy 
retreat a mile awa<v, at Delapre, a stately mansion, 
once an Abbey. "My OountiT' Seat" was tihe name 
given to it by Doddridge. 

In 1740 (April 14) the following advertisement ap- 
peered in a local paper: — 

"To be Lett» furnished or nnfumish'd, and. entered 
upon immediately, a Good Genteel House, oaU'd Dela- 
pree, near Northampton, with all conveniences fit 
for ai large Family; with large Gardens, well planted, 
a Bowling Green, a Dovecote, Coach-house, Malting, 
etc., and a quantity of Grazing Ground, if required. — 
Enquire of Mr. Tho. Vinter at Hardingstone.'^ 

Dekpre for many years had been the seat of the 
Tait family, as it was sometime afterwards of the 
Chirkes, who were followed by the Bouveries. From 
the Northampton Yearly Bills of Mortality we learn 
that the deaths from small-pox for the year 1739-40 
numbered 67. 

THE CHARITY SCHOOL. 

The Bev. John Byland, 'before he had any thoughts 
of ever comdng to Nortlhampton, wrote the following 
to Dr. Doddridge. The "very Benevolent Scheme" 
was, of course, Qie Charity School: — 

Very Bevd. and Dear Sir, — 
Forgive me that I sent Witsius's Irenicae no sooner. 
wMch I know you will readily do, w<hen I bell you that 
I hBii not read it over with ithat aitten<bion and care 
wvhic^h it deservM, — ^but now with ye 'greatosst pleasure 
I put it onto your Hands, and beg your acceptance of 
it eis your own, and ais a small proof of my very grea;fc 
Love to you, and an inconsiderab]<e acknowledgement 
of your tender, generous Friendsihip and Favours shown 
me when I wias laist at Noi^fhampton. 

If my poor mite may be accepted, towards <bhe 
carrying on of yr very Benevolent Scheme you have 
form'd, I wiU take an opportunity sometime thtts 
&i^nn!g oif conveying it to your Hands. My Hearty 
m-shM and prayers for ye Advancemenib of ye Interest 
and Honour of our dear and Adorable Lord Jesus 
Christ, and consequently for ye Continuance of your 
^4fe,*and je success oi ^ your yarious I^ab^urs, are to<^ 



108 

big and to many to 'be expross'd, and -ilierefore I mnrt 
be silent on that Head. — We protnUe ourselyes je 
plea»are of a visit frcnn you in the Sommer (if the 
Lord permit). Mr. Medley and my Wife join witii 
me in most Cordial BespeeU 'to you and- Mrs. Dod- 
dridge, with compliments to aU your good Family. 

I am, Bevd. and Dear Sir, 
Tour most Affectionate obliged faithfull Senrt., 
John Btlaio). 

Warwick, Jan. 28, 1751. 

The identical copy of the "iTevacdi" mentioned in 
the above letter, is preserved in New College Library. 

Page 25. 

DODDEIDGE»S EXPOSITOR. 

A docnment in DoddrMigeU handwriting, preserved 
at New College, shows now highly regarded was 
tfhe << Expositor '^ by all cHaisses of reHgionists. The 
followdng are amongst the " Subscriibers to ye Ex- 
positor '*: 

The Revd. Mr. Henry Petts of Floore. 

Jonatfaon Grnmdy Esq of Tiiomton 6 oopies. 

S. Artihur Heslerig of Northampton Bart. 

Sir Tho9. Samiwell of Upton nr. North Dart. 

Dr. John Freeman Esq M.D. of Norths. 

The Revd. Mr. George Payne jr. Curate of St. 
Feteits in North. Fellow of Kings Coil Camb. 

Wil Wikner Esq of Sywell in Northamps. 

Willm. Coward Esq of W»lthamstow in Essex. 

John Aikin M.D. 

JdbOrton. 

Bisdon Dairracott. 

WiDdam Hanbnry Esq of Eehnarsli. 

Major Lisle of Northampton. 

Thos. Scawen Esq M.P. for Surrey. 

The Honble. Mrs. Tryphena Scawen. 

The Bev. Mr. Carbwright of Itong Buck. 

The Bt. Honble. jre Earl of Halifax. 

Ye Bt. H. Ld. Viscount Sunbury. 

The Bev. Mr. Sam Tailor of Potterspury. 

Bd. Mr. Wm. Martin of HuU 6 «et>ts. 

Abstinece Pougihfer of Leicesr. Esq. 

Mrs. Mary Calamiy, 12 setts. 

Th« Bev. Mr. Hervey. 

The Bev. Mr. D. Goodrich of Oundle. 

Bev. Mr. Wm. HextaJ, 7 setts. 

The Bev. Mr. Georg Costard of Wad Coll. 

Mrs. Eliz Cooke of Stoke Newington. 

Mr. Henry Crommrell. 

Bev. Mr. Calamy. 

Bev. Mr. Sedgley of Biddeford 16 setts. 

Mr. Snells 51 subs. 

Sv Jias Bo'binson Bart, of Cranford. 

The Bev. Mr. Thompson Vic of St. Ginny*s Cornwall. 

Bd. Alured Clarke D.D. PrebenViary of Windsor. 
. Bd. Saml Knight D.D. Prebendary of Ely and Aroh 
Deacon of Berks. 

The Very Bev. Dr. Wishart. 

The Ver>* Bev. l^r. James Oslborne PTinci<pal of the 
University of New Aberdeen. 

Sr Thomas Abney, Knt. 

Bev. Mr. Parr of Brazen Nose College. 

Jesus College Oxon, Library, Bev. Mr. Pryce. 

Jit. Hon. ye Lady Cobham. 



104 

Ye Rev. Mt. Sal. Wad-worth of Hertford in ye County 
of Connectdcut in New Eng. 

Mr. Caleb Ashworth of North. 

The Hon Coil James Gardiner 2 setts. 

A complete list of the subscribers to this work is 
published in the 1st edition. 

Line 10 from, the bottom. "Regent's Park College 
Library *' should be " Dr. Angus'si private library." 

Page 31. 

In Welford Congregational Church books is the fol- 
lo"wing: — 

Mr. Norris died very suddenly Feb. 8th, 1738, in the 
63rd year of his age, and he was buried in the church- 
yard. The verse on his tombstone was written by Dr. 
Doddridge, viz. : 

Deck'd with each manly and each Christian grace, 
The friend of God and aU the human race. 
While earth and heaven beheld him with delight 
From earth to heaven he winged a sudden flight. 
For angels pressed to bear their charge above. 
To kindred realms of piety and love. 
Dr. Doddridge preached his funeral sermon from Gen. 
v., 24, in which he speaks of Mr. Norris in very high 
.terpis. — See Doddridge's Works iii., 329-349. 

Page 32 (and 27). 

MARY WILLS, OF PITSFORD. 

The following is one of the references in Doddridge's 
Diary to the family of Wills of Pitsford: — 

"A remarkable accident happened the other day. 
Mary Wills told me that she was afraid I was out of 
the way of my duty in something about a child's picture, 
discovered to her about two months ago. She then 
thought she said to me : The grave is a forgetful place. 
These things are pleasant, but bury them out of sight. 
What amazing correspondence ! For here was a secret 
of my hfe utterly unknown to her, relating to the image 
of myi dear Betsey. I look upon this in two united views. 
The one as a rebuke of Providence for the too great 
tenderness with which I have viewed and adbred' that 
image. The other as a confirmation of the truth of 
9ome strange stories which I have ^eard from that 
good woman." 

Page 34. 

The following extracts from the " Northampton Mer- 
cury" relate to McNaughton: — 

"We are informed by a Letter from Lincoln, that 
among the Rebel Prisoners in the Castle there is a Boy 
that kill'd the brave Col. Gardiner with a Hedge-Bill 
at the Battle of Preston-Pans, by conuning behind the 
Colonel while he was engag'd With two or three Men." 
—March 17, 1746. 

" We are assured that the four following Persons will 
be executed at Carlisle, on Saturday the 11th of next 
Month, viz., Thomas Gappock, the mock Bi<s>hop of Oar- 
lisle, James Brand, tftie rebel Quarter- Master, McNaugh- 
ton, who killed the brave Colonel Gardiner, and John 
Sanderson." — October 6, 1746. 



105 

COLONEL GABDINEB. 

In Dodctridge Yeetry is an interesting letter from 
Dr. Doddridge to Dr. Watts, dated October 17th, 
1745, in whid the writer says : — 

"In the midst of these carea, snoh a stroke ham 
descended npon me of a enfdden as has ahnost stonned 
me. Never was my heart more painfuilr woonded 
than by the death of dear Colonel Gurdiner, with 
whom I had the most tender and endearing friendi»hip, 
which, in concurrence with all his excell^t qualities, 
and I think almost unequalled attainments' in vital 
and evangelical religion, ha^ wound him about my 
very soul in such a manner as I was not myself aware, 
and has indeed made his death, though attended with 
such glorious circumstances, 'the bitterest cup that 
ever I^vidence put into my 'hands." 

Page 36. 

THE LISBON EPITAPH. 

In the old vestry of Doddridge Chapel, Northamp- 
ton, is a pen and ink sketch of the monument erected 
to Dr. Doddridge at Lisbon. It consists of two mono- 
lithic blocks of stone, cubical in form, the upper one 
somewhat less than the lower, and divided from it by 
a simple O.G. moulding. The inscription is upon the 
upper block, and appears, to be upon a sunk panel, 
wmle round the outsides and top of the panel runs a 
wreath of laurels. The whole is surmounted by a 
classic vase with a wreath of laurels round it. There 
appears to be also the very small. original upright atone 
at the back of the monument, cut out on its edges, 
with simply his name, age, and date of death upon it. 
The following particulars are given with the sketch: — 
Monument erected over the Grave of Dodtiridge in 
the English Burying-ground at Lisbon. 
Philip DoddriUge, DD. 
Died 26th Oct 1751 Aged 50 

with high respeot for his 

character and writings, this 

monument was erected in June 1828 

At the expence of Thomas 

Tavler, of all his numerous 

Pupils the only one then Hving. 

This drawing was made (from A sketch taken on the 

spot), & presented to the Castle Hill Congregation, 

by D. Edwards, Esqr B.N. 

Philip DoddriWge, M). 

Died Oct 26th 1751 

Aged 50. 

Original stone close to the back of the Monument. 

The inscription, which is badly arranged, i*', how- 
ever, a correct copy of the original. 

The English Burying Ground at Lisbon contains 
several acres of ground, laid out as a garden, and 
tastefully adorned with funeral trees, with shrubs, and 
many beautiful flow'rs. 

The remains of Fielding [the novelist] and of many 
. diflftinguished Officers who fell in the Peninsular War 
repose there. 

31st Deer, 1835. D. E. 

Captain Edwards, who presented the drawing, was 
-the nephew of the Bev. B. L. Edwards, minister of 
King Street Chapel, Northampton, 1786-1831. 



106 



Pag» 37. 



Dr. Doddridge's daughter Mary was married to Joim 
Hnmpfareys at All Saints' Ohuxch, NortbamptoiL, by 
License, on Noyember 5th, 1759. The record is in 
the parish register. 

POBTBATTS OF DB. DODDBIDGE. 

Fortraite of the Doddridge Family, 
Witib the Arms, Diploma, ftc., of Dr. Doddridge, 

(Bemoyed from Tewkesbnry ; ) 

Sold by Auction, by Messrs. Southgate k Barrett 

On Thursday, the 25th of November, 1847, 

At their Booms, 22, Fleet Street, London. 

1. Fine Portrait of Dr. Doddridge, in esceiUent 
condition, land framed. 

This interesting pictnre was always mnch prized 
by the Doctor's family and his descendflats ; by 
them it was considerea ibis best portrait, and was 
for generations, as a valued heirloom, conspicuously 
hung oyer the fire place in the parlour of the old 
family residence in the Bull Bing at Tewkesbury. 

2. Portrait of Mr. Doddridge, the Doctor's Father, 
framed. 

3. Portrait of Mrs. Doddridge, the Doctor's Mother, 
framed to match. 

4. Portrait of a Genfbleman, supposed to be that 
of Philip Doddridge, Esq., steward to the noble house 
of Buseell, and uncle to the Doctor, framed. 

5. Pair of Portraits, a Gentleman and Lady, sup- 
posed to be ancestors of the Doctor, in oval frames. 

6. Portrait of a Lady, unknown. 

7. Portrait of Dr. Doddridge, when a Boy, play- 
ing with a Dog. 

8. The Arms of Dr. Doddridge, framed. 

9. The Diploma of Doctor of Sacred Theology in 
the King's College, Aberdeen, 'granted to Dr. Dod- 
dridge in 1737, writteo on YeUum, with ten auto- 
graphs. 

10. Dr. Doddridge's Cane. 

11. A small Pocket or Pulpit Bible, with the 
Doctor's autograph in the title page, the first volume 
only. 

BIBLIOGBAPHY OF DB. DODDBIDGE. 

The following is a oondeosed Bibliography of Dod- 
dridge. The dates are those of the earliest editions 
yet. traced : 

Free Thoughts on the most Probable Means of 
Beviving the Dissenting Interest. 1730. 

Sermons on Beligious Education a( Children. Preached 
at Northampton. 1732. 

The Care of the Soul urged as the One Thing Nee^l- 
Inl. A sermon preaoh«d at MaidweH, June 2^, 1735. 
1735. 

The Absurdity and Iniquity of Persecution for Con- 
science-sake. A sermon preached at Northampton 1736. 

[Seven] Sermons to Young Persons. Dated " North- 
ampiton, Dec. 30, 1734." 1735. 

The Temper and Conduct of the Primitive Ministers 
of the Gospel. A sermon preached at Wisbeach, June 
8, 1737. 1737. 



107 

SabmiMioii to DiTioe Proyidence in tlie Deiath of 
Children. A B^rmon irreached at Northampton on the 
deatlh of a rery amiable and hopefnl child. 1737. 

Practical Beflections on the Character and Translation 
of Enoch. A Sermon Preeoh'd at Welford, March 9» 
1737-8, on the Death of the Bev. Mr. John Norris. 
Northampton, Dicey. 

The Family Expositor ; or, a Farapbraae and Veraion 
of the New Testament, with Critical Notes, kc 6 
Vols. 1730. [Over 25 different editions of thia work 
hare been pablished.] 

A Sermon Preadhed at WeUingborougph, Nev. 9, 1738, 
which was observed ae a Day of Fasting and Prayer oo 
accomvb of the late dreadful Fire there. 1739. 

The necessity ol ai Genebal Befonuation, in order to a 
WeU-gToonded Hope of Suooess in War. A Sermon 
Preached at Northampton, Jan. 9, 1739-40. 1740. 

The Scniptnre Doctrine of Salvation by Grace throog^h 
Faith. The Substaoce of 2 ffermons Preached at 
BoweU. 1741. 

Ten Sermons on tbe Power and Grace of Chriai. 
Preadhed at NorthenHyton. The Second Edition. 1741. 

Besignation to the WiH of God. A Fnneral Sermon 
for Bev. John Newman, by John Barker, with the 
addition of «ome portaculars by P. Doddridge^ 1741. 

PractioaiF Discourses on Begeneration. in Ten Sermons 
preached at Northampton; to which are added Two 
Sermons on Salvation by Grace through Faith. 
Preached at Bowell. 1742. 

Ohriistian Preaching and Ministerial Service. A 
Sermon Ptreached at St. Ives at the Ordination of tbe 
Bev. John Jennir^gs, August 12, 1742, by David Jennings, 
with the Caiarge delivered' by P. Doddridge. 1742. 

The Evil and Danger o^f Neglecting the Souls of 
Men. A Seirmon Preached «t a Meeting of Ministers at 
Kettering, Oc*. 15, 1741. 1742. 

Seimons on Several Subjects preached by the iate 
Beverend Mr. Tho. Steffe of Taunton, with* some Ex- 
tracts from his Letters, in an Aocounib of his Life & 
Ghaiaoter. Published at the Desire of several of his 
surviving Friends, By Phflip Doddridge, D.D. 1742. 

The Perspicuity and Solidity of Evidences of CSiris- 
trianity. In a Letter to *he Author [Henry Dodwell] 
of Christianity not founded on Argument, &c. 1742. 

A Second. Letter. 1743. 

A Third Letter. 1743. 

The Principles of ifhe Christian Beligion for the use 
of Little GhiMren. 1743. 

Compassion to the Sick. A Sermon Preached at 
Northampton, Sept. 4, 1745. In favoi* of a design then 
opening to erect a County Infirmary there. 1743. 

The Ohri«tian Warrior Animated and Crowned. A 
Sermon Occasioned by the Heroick Deaith of the Hon. 
Ool. Gardiner, preadhed at Northampton, Oct. 13, 1745. 
1745. 

Deliverance out of *he hands of our Enemies. Two 
Sermons preached at Northampton Feb. 9, 1745-6. On 
oocaaion of the precipita*e flighib of the rebels from 
Stirhng. 1746. 

Prafcticale I^erredenen over de Wedergeboorte. 
Anwrterdam. 1746. [A Du,tdh translatiof^ of Pxuctioal 
Piscoqrses on Begekiieration.j 



106 

The Biie and Progreas of BeHgion in >tihe Soul. 1745. 

Of tbis weH-koorwiil work 48 editk>iis haye been printed 
in London, 8 in Gla^ow, 5 in Edinburgh, 4 in D>&Tt)T, 
4 in Chiswick, 2 ii^ Notting4iftTn, and 1 each in Chelsea, 
Gainsboaraugh, Staznioird, Northampton, Soutbwold. 
Manchester. 

Other editions have been pu'blis^hed in 

French by J. T. Vernede, Brinne, 1754. 

Welch Inr J. Griffirtih, 1788. 

Gaelic, Edin., 1811. 

ItaJian, 1812. 

Tamil, JViffna. 1848. 

Syriac by J. Perkins, Uromee, 1857. 

Also in ihitdh, German, and Danisih. 

Some Bemarkable Passages in the Life of the Hon. 
Col. Jam.e8 Guirdaner, who wa« s-lain »t 'the Batfcle of 
Preston Fans, Sept. 21, 1745. With an Appendix re- 
Ifliting to the Antieat Family of tihe Mtinro's of Foiw1!i0. 
1747. 

Chris t'4 Invitation to Thirsty Souls. A Sermon 
pfeached at Northampton in ifahe year 1729. 1746. 

[Nine] Sermons by the Bev. James Shepherd, with a 
Seimon occasioned by this deaths preaohed a/b North- 
ampton May 25, 1746. 1748. 

Beflecftione on the Oonidnct of Divine Providence in the 
Series and Conclusion of the late War A sermon 
preached at Nod?hampton April 25, 1749. 1749. 

Christian Candour and Unanimity. A Sermon 
•preached' at a Meeting of Ministers art Oreaton> Jany. 
12, 1749-50. 1750. 

The Guilt and Doom of Capernaum. A Seimon 
preaohed at Salters Hall Aug. 20, 1749. On the alarm 
of an Earthquake, March 8, 1749-50. 1750. 

The Oa«e of Eeceiving the Small-Pox by Inoculaitdon. 
By Bev. Mr. David Some of Harborough, Published 
from the Original MS., by P. Doddridge. 1750. 

A Plain and Serious Address to the Master of a 
Family. The Second Edition. 1750. 

The Friendly Instructor, a Companion for Young 
Ladies and Young GeniWemen. With Becommendatory 
Preface by P. Doddridge. The Fourtih Edition. 1751. 

Medi'tation* on the Tears of Jesus over the Grave of 
Lazarus. Sermon preaohed' at St. Albau'S, Deo. 16, 
1750, on ifhe Death of the Bevd. Samuel Clark, D.D. 
1751. 

Hymns Founded on Various Texts in the Holy Scrip- 
taires. The Isti & 3nd Editions were printed at Salop 
1755. 11 Other Editions were prin'ted in London, and 
one was printed at Yarmouth. 

Sermons & Religious Tracts of the laite Beverend 
Philip Doddrddige, D.D. Now first ooQLected togetoier in 
Three Volumes. 1761. 

A Course of Lectures on the Principal Subjects in 
Pneumabdogy, Ethics, and Divinity. 1763. 

A New Transiatwm of the New Tesitament of our Lord 
• & Savibur Jesus Christ. Extraicted from the Para- 
phrase of the late Philip Doddridge, D.D. Aindi care- 
fully revised. With an Introduction and Notes. 2 
vols. 1765. 

The Evidences of Christianity Briefly Stated in three 
Judicious and Excellent Sermons. 1770. 



109 

The ImpToremeab of tihe Mind by Isaac WatU, 
D.D. Published aifteir his deatih by D. Jenninga, ITD., 
and' P. Doddridge, D.D. 1789. 

Letters to and from the Rev. Philip Doddridge, with 
notes Explanatory and Biographical by TSbomas Sted- 
man. ShHrewsbury, 1790. 

A Disaertataon on itlbe InspiraiioiDis of the New Teata- 
ment, otc. 1793. 

A brief and easy System of Shontihand : First invented 
By Mr. Jeremialh Bich, and improved by Dr. Dod- 
drid^. 1799. 

The Isit Edition of Ricih was pablisbed in 1669 : other 
Editions improved- by Dr. Doddridge in 1800, 1805, & 
1830. 

Divine Son^, by I. Watts;, D.D., with Supplementary 
Poems, by Dr. Doddridge. Taunton. 

A Remari^el^le Dream of tihe late Dr. Dodderidge. A 
copy hangs in the vestry of Doddridge Chapel. 

The One Thing Needful : or the Best Choice. 

Thirteen Practical Sermons, founded upon Doddridge's 
Rise and Progress, by Francis Wrangham. 1800. 

The Family ExpooitiosiL Abridged by S. Palmer. 
2 vote. 1800. 

The Works of the Rev. P. Doddridge. In ten volumes. 
Leeds, 1802. 

The Restoration of Family Worship Recommended. 
Selected from Dr. Doddridge by John Brewster. 1804-. 

Lectures on Preaching and the several Branches of the 
Minasteriali Office. 1807. 

The Leading Heads of Twenty- seven Sermons, 
Preached at Northampton in the year 1749. 1816. 

Sermoos on Yairioias Subjects. In four volumes. 
1826. 

The Correspondence and Diary of PhiHp Doddridge, 
edited by his Great Grandson, John Doddridge Hum- 
phrieo. 5 vols. 1829. 

'Kiei Misoefltaaneousi Works of Philip Doddridge, D.D. 
1830. . 

Devotional Letters and Sacramental Meditations, with 
Lectures on Preaching, etc. 1832. 

Religious Youth invited to Early Communion. 1834. 

Sacramental Meditations and Spiritual Experience of 
the Rev. Philip Doddridge. Second edition. 1836. 

Hints of Discourses on ye Parables of Christ, intended 
for ye Lectures afa Oollege Lane. In MS. at Neiw 
College. 

The Divine presence in Death the support of the good 
man. A Funeral' Sermon occasioned by the Death of 
Mrs. Goodrich, preached at Oundle, Dec. 9, 1744. 
In MS. at New Oollege. 

Memoirs of the Life, Character, and Writings of the 
late Reverend Philip Doddridge, D.D., of Northampton. 
[By Jab Orton.] Salop, 1766. 

Memoir of the Life, Character, and Writings of Philip 
Doddridge, D.D. By Rev. James R. Boyd, A.M. New 
York. 

The Lives of Dr. Doddridge and Colonel Gardiner, 
with Selections from tibie Life of tthe Rev. Thomas Steffe, 
and Dr. Doddridge's Letters. Oxford, 1823. 

Philip Doddridge. His Life and Labours. A Can- 
tenary Memorial. By John Stoughton. 1851. 

A second edition apeared in 18^2, 



110 

Philip Doddridge, D.D. By Charles Stanford, D.D. 
1880. 

An Ameiioan -edition was published by Messrs. 
Armstronfir, of New York, m their "Heroee of 
Obristiea History" seriecR. 

Page 38. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE REV. R. GILBERT. 

The Terms of National Happiness stated and recom- 
mended. A Sermon delivered at Northampton Feb. 
the 6th, 1756. Appointed to (be observed as a Day 
of General and PabHck Fasting, Humiliation, and 
Prayer. 1756. 

An Alarm to Great Britain, with an Invitation to 
Repentance from the Respite of Jud)gment Repre- 
«entecl in a Sermon Delivered at Northampton, 
February 11th, 1757. Appointed to be observed, as 
a Day of General and Fuolick Fasting, Humiliation 
and Prayer. 1757. 

Britain revived, and under the smiles of Mercy, sum- 
moned to the Work of Praise. A Sermon Delivered 
at Northampton on Thursday, Nov. 29, 1759. Ap- 
pointed to oe observed as> a Day of General and 
rublick Thanksgiving. 

Page 41. 
THE FORMATION OF KING STREET QHUBCH. 

The following are the full titles of the four pam- 

Shlets isAued in the controversy occasioned by the 
ismissal of the Rev. William Hextal : 

The Pernicious Effects of Religious Contentions and 
Bigotry, Exemplified in a Series ot Undoubted Facts, 
almost unparalleleld in the Dissenting Annals, which 
have lately happened relative to that Church and 
Congregation at Northampton, who, for many years, 
were under the Care of the late Learned and 
Worthy Dr. Doddridge. By a Member of the Con- 
gregation. With a Preface, by the Rev. Mr. Hextal. 
Northconpton, Dicey. 

Diotrephes Reproved: or Remarks on a Pkmphlet in- 
tituled. The Pernicious Effects of Rehgious Conten- 
tions and Bigotry, Exemplified in a Series of Un- 
doubted Facts, almost Unparalleled in the Dissenting 
Annals, which have lately happened! relative to that 
Church and Congregation at Northampton, who, for 
many years, were under the Care of the late learned 
and worthy Dr. Doddridge. By a Member of the 
Congregation. With a Preface by the Rev. Mr. 
HextaL 1776. 

Misguided Religious Zeal, trampling on Humanity, 
Candor, and Benevolence, Reprov'd andl Condemned, 
containing Remarks on a late Pamphlet, called Dio- 
trephes Reprov'd. In which the false Facts, the 
illiberal Reflections, the mean Quibbles, the un- 
merited Reproaches, the uncharitable Conclusions, 
the unjust Censures and Aspersions, contained in 
that Performance, are pointed out, and set in their 
true Light. In a Letter to the Attestors to the 
Truth of that Pamphlet. By Jeremiah Rudsdell. 
With a Preface, by the Rev. Mr. Hextal. North- 
ampton, Dioey. 



Ill 

An Aocoiinfc of what Concern Dr. G-ibbons hai had in 
the late Transactions among the Protestant Diasen- 
ters at Northampton, in which his Character is 
cleared from the unjnst Censures that have been 
passed npon Him. In a Letter to a Friend. 1775. 

MABY DODDEIDGE 

The names of the 31 members of Castle Hill cut 
off from membership are: John Baker, Mary Baker, 
Mary Doddridge, Ootberine Sone, Phebe Sharp, Mrs. 
Potter, John Taylor, Rebecca Roberts (21 at January, 
1776); Jeremiaib Rudsdeld, Rebecca Hope, " Mrs^ 
Eliz. Eteztall," Mrs. Medbury, Wjbs Barbara Purser, 
Mrs. Cove, William Halford, Sarah Sharman, Maiy 
Horsley, Dorcas Facer, Mary Willa, Mary Coleman, 
Eliz. Houghton (11th February); Joseph Clark, Ann 
Moore, Eld*. How, Ann How ^3rd March); Thos. 
Butler, Stephen Laundon, Benjamin Rigby (10th 
March); Mrs. Peach, Mrs. Rebecca GK)ode, and Ann 
Cave (7th April). 

Considerable uncertainty has been experienced m 
definitely deciding who the Mary Doddridge, " cut 
off" from Cattle Hill Church on January, 21st. 1776, 
wee. That she was not Doddridge's daughter is 
shown on pp. 41 & 106, and it is unlikelv that she was 
any relation wibatever to the Doctor. Sne was neither 
aunt, cousin, nor niece, either by blood or marria^. 
She was admitted a member of Castle Hill Church 
on September 3rd, 1745, during the pastorate of Dr. 
Doddridge, when Doddridge's own daughter Mary was 
only 12 yeairs of age. She was one of the original 
meimbers of King Street Cbuiroh. Her name ap- 
pears in the list of (Subscribers to this Church m 
1760, and she died before 1785, when the next li^t 
is entered in the Church Book. Her epitaph was 
formerly on a tombstone in King-street Burial Ground ; 
but the stone, which is now broken and much worn, 
was uded for paving the yard when alterations were 
recently made. A portion of the stone is now built 
upon, and all that is decipherable is simply the name 
"Btory Doddridge." 

Page 42. 

DR. RYLAND AND CASTLE HILL. 

The following, extracted from his own Text Book. 
is a complete list of the Sermons preached by tho 
Rev. John Rylond, Jun., afterwards Dr. Ryland, at 
Casitle Hill Churcsh. He entered the ministry in 1771 
a« assistant to his father at College Lane Chapel, 
Northampton. 

1773. 

A funeral at Castle Hill, N. Matt, xxiv., 44. 
Castle HiU' funeral <or Miss How. Ps. xxiii., 4 

Ca«tle Hill (Lords D. M. 8). John xxi., 22. 
Castle Hill, N. (Thursd'). Luke a.. 74. 75. 
Castle Hill (Ev. 5^). John xxi., 22. 
C^tle Hill. (Morn. 8). Isai. Ivi., 8. 
(Eveng. 5^). Isai. Ivi., 8. 
CaMle Hill (Eveng.) Isai. xxvi., 3. 

Castle Hil (Harves* Meetg.) Gen. xv., 8. 

Castle Hill (Harvest M.) Prov. xi., 23. 

Castle Hill (Harvest M.) Prov. x., 3. 

Castle Hill (Harvest M.) Lam. iii., 58. 



Jan. 11. 


June 23. 


1775. 


June 18. 


June 22. 


June 25. 


July 2. 


July 23. 


Aug. 5. 


„ 12. 


» 19. 


M 26. 



112 



Sept. 10. . CasUe Hill (Lords Day M.) Ps. xlvi., 10. 

Sept. 13. OasUe Hill (Harvest M.) Zech. iii., 2. 

Sept. 28. Oaatie HiU (Thmwiay). I Joihii iv., 13. 

Oofc. 1. Oastie Hill' (Urrds D. M. 8i). Ps. xlvi., 10. 

Oct. 5. (ibstle Hill (Ttursd). Ps. cilvii., 11. 

Oct. 8. Castle Hill (Lorde D. M. 8). Prov. 23., ♦. 
Casae Hill (Ev. 5}). I Thesa. iv., 12. 

„ 12 „ (Thursd.) Cant, viii., 5. 

„ 15. Castle Hill (Lordsl D. M. 8). Ps. lixxi., 10. 
Castle Hill (Ev. 6). Am. vii., 2. 

„ 19. Oa&tle Hill (Tlhdusd.) Ps. .cxvi.,8i 

„ 22. Castle Hilli (tords D. M. 8^). Oaafc. ii., 8. 
(Ev. 5i). Eccl. vi., 10. 

1776. 
Mar. 31. Oaalble HiJl (Aft.) Prov. xvi., 7. 

1778. 
Nov. 15. Oaatle Hill, NoTthamp ton (M.) I Cor. iii., 3. 

1779. 

July 11. Owstile Hill (Mr. Horsey unwell) (Ev.). ^ 

Luke xiii., 25. 

July 25. Castle Hill (M.) Jer. xxxi., 33. 

1T81. 

Jan. 7. Castle Hill, Northampton' (M.) Prov. iii., 26. 

„ 14. Cajstle Hdili (M.) Ps. xviii., 30. 

„ 21. Castle Hill (M.) 2 Cor. v., 5. 
Apl. 22. Castle Hill (A.) I«a. xxxii, 4. 

1782. 

Jan. 20. Castle Hill (Aft.) Acts xxvi., 22. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE REV. WILLIAM HEXTAL. 

Beyood the books mentioned on page 110, Mr. HextaM 
published : 

A due Preparation for Death and; Eternity, con- 
sidered, and recommended. A FiineraL Discourse 
Preached at Sudbury, February 11. On occasion of 
the very sadden and much lamented Death of Mrs. 
Judith Burkitt, who departed this life February 
6, 1753, in the 61«t year of her age. 1753; 

Line 13 from bottom (page 42) "Arian" should be 
" Trinitarian." 

Page 43. 

The Sunday-schools opened in 1827 were erected on 
ground bought from the Corporation of Northampton, 
forming part of the old Castle Hills, from which the 
Church acquired its original name. The foundation 
stone was laid in June, 1826. On August 24th, as the 
paragraph in the " Northampton Mercury " reads :* " Aji 
Inquest was taken before J. Birdsall, gent, one of the 
coroners for this town, on view of the body of Wm. 
Pettifer, aged about 32 years, who on the preceding 
Tuesday, whilst removing part of Castle Hills, so great 
a quantity of the rubbish fell upon him as to cause his 
death the following day. — ^Verdict accordingly." 

A line has been omitted' by the printer after line 
16, from the bottoan (Page 43). The statement should 
read that in consequence of the stait-e of health of 
Mr. Horsey arrangements' were made to give him 
an. assistant. Mr. Hyatt was selected, " but before a 
settlement took place, Mr. Horsey died on May 12th, 
1827." 



118 

Pa€« 44. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE BEV. JOHN HORSEY. 

Great Britain's Dejliveiianc© land Duty; BepreMnted 
in a Sermon at Bingwood; Hants. 1746. 

A Plea for Peace and Truth [A Sennon preached at 
Ein^grwood]. 1748. 

Infant Baptism Stated and DefendedL A Discourse 
Delivered in the Meeting-House, on the Pavement, 
Moorfields, London, November 17, 1785, at the Bap- 
tism oi the Bev. WilHam Bennet's child: with a 
Practical Address on the Occasion. 1786. 

Eternal Life Viewed by Christian beUevers, as the 
effect of Divine Mercy, through Jesus C?hrist. The 
Subs-bance of a Sermon, Delivered to the Society of 
Protestant Dissenters, at Welford, in Northampton- 
ahdUB, November 12, 1788; on occasion of the Death 
of the Reverend Mr. Samuel King, who ^departed this 
Life at Northampton, November 6, 1788, in the 74th 
year of his age. Northampton, n.d. 

A Sermon Preached at Castle Hill Meeting House, 
Northampton, on Sunday, the 15th of May, 1825, upon 
the Occasion of the Death of Mrs. Horsey, wife of the 
Bev. J. Horsey, Pastor of the Congregation Assembling 
there. By B. L. Edwards. 1825. 

A 6ermon Preached at Castle Hill Meeting House, 
Northampton, on Sunday, the 20th of May, 1827, upon 
the Occasion of the Death of the Bev. John Hoi'sey, Pas- 
tor of the Congregation assembling there. By B. L. 
Edwards. 1827. 

Lectures to Young Persons on the Intellectual and 
Moral Powers of Man: the Existence, Character, and 
Gt)vernment of God; ana the Evidences of Chiis- 
tianity. 1828. 

THE UNITABIAN CHUBCH. 

The following are the signatures to the letter to 
Castle Hill Church, announcing that the signatories with- 
drew from the Church: — Sarah Haynes, Margaret Cot- 
ton, Ann Horsey, Ann Wish, Thoms Jones, William 
Oausby, E. Causby, Thomas Lawrence, and Henry A. 
Dalby. The Church book at Castle Hill which preserves 
the letter, adds : " The individuals whose withdrawment 
is here announced have in connection with some of the 
Subscribers formed themselves into a Society professing 
Unitarian principles." 

The Unitarian Chapel in King- street was opened on 
September 21st, 1827. 

Page 45. 

THE CONGBEGATIONAL UinON AT 
NOBTHAMPTON. 

The Autumnal Assembly of the Congregational Union 
was held at Northampton on October 13tti, 14th, 15th, 
fkud 16th, 1851. At the dose of the proceedings, in the 
name of the Union, the Bev. J. Kelly, the chairman pre- 
sented a copy of Bobinson's Works to each of the three 
pastors of the town, and moved the following resolu- 
tion :— 

"That this assembly cannot separate at the end of a 
series of most gratifying services and sittings in the 
Town of Northampton, without tendering its warin and 
affectionate thanks to the Pastors, Deacons, and Mem- 
bers of the three Congregational Churches of this town, 
lor the liberal and complete arrangements made for the 



lU 

Teeeption and comfort of the Pastors and Delegates here 
assembled ; and must at the same time express the con- 
vioiion that the Visitors at this Aatunmal Meeting will 
long retain a gratefnl recoUection of the hallowed fellow- 
ship they have enioyed in the pubUc services of the 
sanctnary, and in the social intercourse of the Christian 
famiJies 'belonging to this and to other Denominations 
to which they have been introduced ; while the Assembly 
would fervently prav that our blessed Lord may con- 
tinue to shed aU holy peace and prosperity on the con- 
gregations and domestic circles of His people here." 

This resolution was suitably acknowledged by the 
Bev. £. T. Frust, the Bev. J. Bennett, and the Bev. Gh. 
Nicholson. 

At the same time the works of John Bobinson, Pastor 
of the Pilgrim Fathers, with a memoir and annotations 
by Bobert Ashton, Secretaiy of the Congregational 
Board, London {London: John Snow, 35, Fatemoster- 
row, 1851. 3 vols.], bound in full morocco gilt, tooled 
sides and gilt ed^es, were presented to each of the three 
ministers named in the above resolution. Inside the first 
volume was the following lettering: — 

" This copy of the Works of the Bev. John Bobinson 
is presented by the Congregational Union of England and 
Wales to the Bev. George Nicholson, B.A., in acknow- 
ledgment of the kind services he and his congregation 
have rendered to the Union, on occasion of its assembly 
in Northampton, in October, 1851, the Centenary year of 
the death of Dr. Doddridge. 

Gheorge Smith, Secretary.** 

It was at these meeting-s that Dr. Stoughton read' his 
paper on "Philip Doddridge: His Life and Labours," 
altefTwards enlarged and publisihed (page 110). It was 
the opinion of tl^ ministers that it was the best effort 
Dr. Stoughton had made. The effect of the reading 
upon the audience was most impressive; man.^ nt 
times were in tears. The tension among thei audience 
towards the clo#e of the paper was becoming cdmost 
painfuiT, wheQ a somewhat humorous accident served 
to bring i^lief. The late Thomas Binney was on the 
platform, and waj» amon^ those who were deeply 
moved. At last the tears were more than could be 
hidden, and . he brought out a hugb bandana silk 
handkerchief, which those who ranembered him will 
quickly associate with him. The action, however, als^ 
accidentaliFy brou^t a number of coppers rolling in 
various du'ections across the platform. A ripple of 
laughter passed among the reverend brethren who 
were aibout him. And so the tension, which was 
becoming too great, was at once relieved. 

Pa«e46. 

THE REV. JOHN BENNETT. 

In March, 1886, Mrs. Henry Marshall, of tho 
Poplars, presented to Doddridge Church an oil paint- 
ing, by a Northanipton artist, of the Bev. Jcihn Ben- 
nett. The portrait was painted very soon after Mr. 
Bennett settled at Northampton. The picture passed 
into the possession of Mr. Bennett's youngest son, 
Henry, who gave it to Mr. and Mrs. Marshall in the 
summer of 1884, shortly before his death. Mr. Henry 
Marshall, J.P., klied in 1895. 

" Dr. McOBia » should be <' the Bev. Samuel McAU" 



115 

Pasie 47. 
BIBLIOORAPHT OF THE BEV. T. ABNOLD. 

Ohuich and State. A sennon preached before the 
Mayor (Mr. Henry Marshall) and Gorporataon of 
Northampton, eit Doddridge Qhapel, NoTomber the 
12th, 1671. Private lasae. 

Aores «urdid. The Bdtication of the D^af and 
Dumb: an Exposition and a Beview of the Fremoh 
82x1 German Systems. 1872. 

Some Pre-Beqnisites of the Sunday School for the 
Work of Beligioos Education. Northampton, 1872. 

Present State and. Prospects of Our Village Churches. 
NorthamptoD. 1878. 

A Method of Teaching tihe Deai and Domb Speech* 
Lip-readdng, end Language. 1881. 

Esseys : On Teaching Language to Deaf-Mutes. The 
Fnnotaoos of Touch in learning to Speak. [These two 
have no title-page nor Trrapper, and -are printed and 
paged «M thoufi^ in oontinaaffaion of the above work, 
^ A Method of Teacshing, &c.," thouglh publuhed much 
later. N.D.] 

The Ohuroh and her Minisriiiy. By Thomas Arnold. 
Preached eit Doddridge Ohapel, December 25th, 1881, 
in Relation to his Ketiremeiit from the Pastorate. 
Northampton, 1881. 

Report of the Proceedings oomiected with the Pre- 
sentation made to the Rev. Thomas Arnold, on has 
Batirement from the Pastorate of the Churoh, Dod- 
dridge Chapel, Northampton, Jtme 15th, 1882. North- 
ampton, A. V. Dicey. 

Remort of the PreaentaitKm made to the Rev. T. 
Arnold on las Retirement from the Ministry, June 
15th, 1882. Northam^yton, 1883. 

On the Preparatory Training of Deaf Mutes, to aid 
Ptavents and Teachers. Northunpton, 1886. 

Educatdon of Deaf Mutes: A Manual for Teaohers. 
2 vols. 1888-1891. 

Ldp-Readdng for the Deaf. Nortbampiton, 1892. 

The Languors of the Senses, with special reference 
to the Education of the Deaf, Blind, Deaf and Blind. 
18M. 

Dodidridg«i Chapel, Castle Bali^, Northamptoa, 
Financial Statements. 1872-1895. 

The History of the Ghuicb of Doddridge. By 
Thomas Arnold and J. J. Cooper; and 

Reminiscences of Forty Tears. Tfhomas ArookL 
W^lingborough, 1895. 

Page 48. 

THE REV. JOHN OATES. 

The Rev. John Oates, when at New College, London, 
was Wardlaw Exhibitioner and Kendail-Binney Prite- 
man. He was co-pastor and' pastor alt Doddijidge four 
years. During 'his six and a half years' pastorate at 
Beading hi^ church was considerably enlarged at a 
cost of A,500; and he was elected President of the 
« Berks, south Bucks, and South Oxon Association of 
Congregational Churches." He entered on the pas- 
torate it Southsea on December 8th, 1889. In 1895, 
during his absence from Southsea on his vacation, the 
Church spontaneously decided to aidd /SO per annum 
to his stipend. He is on the Board of ibe Portsmouth 



116 

lEbojuSi Hospiita], and is co-Secret^iy of tihe Ho»pital 
Siinitey Oommitltee and of t<he local auxiliaiy of the 
Bi'bl'6 Society. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE REV. J. OATES. 

The Pilgrim Father*. A Lecture Delivered in the 
Town Hall, Northaaupton, January 20tih, 1680. In Aid 
of the Youngr Men's Christian Association. North- 
ampton, 1880. 

"For the Wages of Sin is Death, but itftie Grift of 
Ghod is Eternal Life, through Jesus Christ our Lord," 
Romans vi., 23. Sir Noel Paton's Picture, "The Man 
-with tho Muck-Rake/' A Sermon Preached at Dodd- 
ri<ige Ohapel, Nortihampton, on Sunday, Novem.'ber 
13th, 1881. Northampton, 1381. 

"Let no man pub a stumbling-block, or an occasion 
to fall in his brother's way." Romans xiv., 13. The 
Blue Ri'hbon Movement: A Sermon preached at Dodd- 
rfdge Chapel, Northampton, on Sunday, April 30th, 
1882. Northampton. 

Farewell Sermon Preached in Doddridge Chapel, on 
Sunday, April 15, 1883. Northampton. 

The Faithful Mindsbry preached in Trinity Ohuroh, 
Reading, May 16th, 1883. 

The Chnstian Gospel: An Address as Ohaarman of 
(tihe Berks Union of Ohurchea. 1889. 

The Teaching of Tennyson. London, 1885. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE REV. J. J. COOPER. 

Bible Light on Bible Wines: A CIassifik;ation of all 
the Scripture Words translated " Wine," their mean- 
ing" and application, with the texts in w*hich tlhey occur, 
by Rev. Joseph J. Cooper, S. D. Grand Lodge of 
Scotland, I.O.G.T. 1875. 

The ReHgiousness of Good Templary. By Rev. 
Joseph J. Cooper, Grand Lodge Lecturer. Published 
by the Edinburgh Degree Temple and Lokige of In- 
struction [Independent Order of Good Templars]. 1878. 

The History of the- Ohuroh of Doddridge. By 
Thomas Arnold and J. J. Oooper. 1895 

The Life and Advenjtures of Jdm Mayzes^ By Rev. 
J. J. Oooper. 1895. 

Page 56. 

When Mr. Shepherd! went to Booking the congreg8^- 
tion worshipped in a large bam; and during hds 
ministry a spacious place of worship was erected for 
their accommodation. The Rev. T. W. Davids^ in 
his "Annals of Evangelical Nonconformity in the 
County of Essex," says: "In 1716 [during Mr. Shep- 
herd's ministry] the congregation is returned as 
consisting of eight hundred persons, of whom one 
hundred and ten had votes for the county and nine 
had votes for Coil'chester and Maldon, and thirty-four 
of whom are described as' * gentlemen.' " Towards 
the end of the century a secession took place from 
the Church, which was the origin of the church at 
Braintree. 

"' Coggeshall " on peige 56 should be " Booking." 



117 



BURIALS AT DODDRIDGE CHAPEL. 

The " Northampton Bills of Mortality," issaed yearly from 1736 to 
1871, give important particalars respecting interments in Doddridge 
Chapel and the adjacent graveyard. "The Meeting in St. Peter's 
Parish " first appears in the Bills in 1747. The namber of interments 
is given year by year until 1790. In 1792, the namber of christen- 
ings appear for the first time. The barial statistics are resumed in 
1798. The following table, abstracted from the Bills themselves, 
gives the numbers for each year. A blank indicates that no number 
appears in the original Bills : — 



Year. Chris. 


Buried. 


Year. 


ChriB. 


Buried. 


Year. 


Ohrie. 


Buried 


1747 


22 


1789 




10 


1831 


64 


8 


1748 


7 


1790 




10 


1832 


28 


8 


1749 


11 


1791 






1833 


26 


15 


1750 


9 


1792 


13 


... 


1884 


22 


26 


1751 


14 


1793 


9 




1835 


36 


11 


1752 


11 


1794 


6 




1836 


43 


12 


1753 


6 


1795 


8 




1837 


32 


18 


1754 


14 


1796 


11 




1838 


25 


17 


1755 


5 


1797 


13 




1839 


6 


16 


1756 


14 


1798 






1840 


32 


13 


1757 


10 


1799 


20 




1841 


2 


15 


1758 


5 


1800 


16 




1842 


15 


15 


1759 


9 


1801 


16 




1843 


6 


11 


1760 


11 


1802 


17 




1844 


13 


10 


1761 


9 


1803 


17 


3 


1845 


12 


11 


1762 


17 


1804 


25 


4 


1846 


7 


19 


1763 


14 


1805 


10 


5 


1847 


13 


20 


1764 


11 


1806 


22 


8 


1848 


3 


7 


1765 


6 


1807 


19 


5 


1849 


25 


12 


1766 


14 


1808 


11 


6 


1850 




5 


1767 


15 


1809 


17 


9 


1851 


5 


8 


1768 


15 


1810 


22 


7 


1852 


3 


3 


1769 


16 


1811 


20 


15 


1853 


12 


5 


1770 


24 


1812 


22 


6 


1854 


14 


1 


1771 


9 


1813 


22 


9 


1855 


19 




1772 


11 


1814 


23 


7 


1856 


12 




1773 


13 


1815 


14 


12 


1857 


18 




1774 


8 


1816 


18 


3 


1858 


14 




1775 


7 


1817 


21 


7 


1859 






1776 


7 


1818 


22 


7 


1860 




i 


1777 


13 


1819 


22 


8 


1861 


... 




1778 


5 


1820 


20 


4 


1862 


1 


"2 


1779 


8 


1821 


36 


9 


1863 




... 


1780 


5 


1822 


30 


7 


1864 


35 




1781 


7 


1823 


31 


9 


1865 


40 


... 


1782 


2 


1824 


37 


n 


1866 


7 




1783 


11 


1825 


28 


9 


1867 


25 




1784 


9 


1826 


15 


16 


1868 




*•• 


1785 


6 


1827 


55 


10 


1869 


39 




1786 


13 


1828 


34 


15 


1870 


.. . 




1787 


7 


1829 


35 


18 


1871 


21 


... 


1788 


8 


1880 


12 


12 









118 



DODDRIDGE CHURCH ACCOUNT BOOK. 

The following are extracted from the receipts and pajments in the 
Chnrch Account Book : — 

Received. 
1761. £ 8. d. 

Deo. 6. Reed, of Mr. Holmes one poand to pay ye 

Dues and Taxes to St. Peter's Parish ... 1 
1763. 
Sept. 8. Reed, for 3 Supplys — Mrs. Brabrook, Ditto, 

Mr. Holmes for Mr. Stack 3 3 

1772. 
Nov. 2. Reed, of Mr. Potter for Mr. Hunt's Grave ... 5 

1781. 
June . By Collection by Personal Application ... 10 5 6 

1782. 

Mar. 10. Collected for Candles 2 17 10 

1786. 

Mar. 20. By Cash Wm. Stanford's Grave 2 6 

1796. 
June 11. Reed, of Mr. Hillyard for 5 years & half rent of 
a House at Kislingbury due at Midsummer 

1794 for Bread and Wine 17 6 

[This receipt appears periodically — about 
once in five years.] 
1810. 

Apr. 8. Collected at the Doors Xmas 1 19 

1815. 
Feb. 28. Collected by personal application for repairs of 

Mr. Horsey's house 24 16 6 

Aug. 23. Cash pd. Mr. Horsey being Mr. West's Legacy 
of £50 for repairs of the Meeting House, 
after deducting £5 paid for the duty ... 45 
Collected by personal application for the pur- 
pose of paying off the two notes of £50 

each held by Mr. Clark 81 

1815. 

Feby. 28. Subscriptions for paying o£E the 100£ with one 

year's Interest borrow'd to discharge the 

Bills for repairing Mr. Horsey's House 

when he declin'd ye Accademy. With 

names of Subscribers 24 16 6 

1821. 
April 12. Collected by personal application for the New 

Windows A dividing Pews ... ... 13 6 

1826. 

Dec. 18. Mr. Rudsdale's Grave 5 

1827. 
May 10. Mr. Horsey's Grave 



119 



Pat'd. 
1761. £ 8. d. 

July 20. Mr. Gibbons Gave it to ye Charitj Sohool ... 1 1 
Deo. 12. Pd. Mr. Smith St. Peter's Parish dues ... 1 

1762. 
Feb. 13. Pd. Mr. Wood for Mr. Strange [of Kilsby] & 

Horse 00 2 

Jane 20. Mr. Addington [of Market Harborongh] Saply, 

& Horse 01 2 6 

1763. 
June 6. Pd. Mr. Hextall & for Ministers & Horses ... 3 7 
1765. 

April 29. Pd. for 6 Singing Books 15 

1767. 

Mar. 7. A Bottle of Wine for ye Vestry 1 6 

1768. 
Sept. 15. At John King's setting 3 Qarts for Mr. Hextall 3 6 

1772. 
May 30. Pd. Mr. Exall ye Expenses at ye Meeting of 

Ministers 1 16 

1774. 
July 2. Mrs. Hextall for ye Meeting of Ministers ... 2 
1781. 

Feb. 11. By Bad Silver in Collection 3 

July 19. Pd. J. Hall for going to Arnsby Turnpikes &c. 4 3^ 

Gave Mr. Hall Junr. Arnsby 1 1 

Pd. for his Horse 3 

[This was the eloquent Hev. Robert Hall, 
who had been a pupil at the academy 
of Dr. Ryland, pastor of College Lane 
Church, Northampton.] 

July 22. Bad Silver in Colin 10 

1783. 

May 28. Ministers' Dues for Meeting 16 years 8 

1787. 

Apl. 23. Pd. Mr. Horsey for a Stampd. Book 3 13 6 

1788. 

April 17. 2 Bottles of Wine & Bottles 03 6 

4 French Rolls 4 

Pd. Mr. Horsey for Meeting of Ministers ..220 
1789. 
July 20. Pd. Mr. Johnson for Mr. Horsey's house ... 17 

1790. 
Feby. Pd. Mr. Wilkinson for provisions for the Poor 2 15 

1792. 
Jany. . Pd. for Licensing the Meeting... ... ... 4 6 

1796. 
Feb. 6. Mr. Haddon for Beer for Mr. Johnson's Men... 6 10| 

1799. 
Feb. 5. Paid for Cleaning the Snow ofP the Ceiling at 

Meeting ... ... ... ... ... 4 6 

1802. 
Apl. 12. John Hall for Cleaning and washg. the Fronts 

of the Gallaries 8 



120 



1803. £ 8. d. 

Nov. 23. Paid Mr. Hilljard for Turnpikes when he 

bronght the Stone for Meeting Wall ... 3 
1804. 
Jany. . By Cash Reed, of Mr. Hillyard Jan. 11 1796 
being Rent of a House Ht Kislingbury 5/- 
sbil lings pr. year 6 years ye half due at 
Midsummer 1794 for Bread and Wine on 
which day I made myself Dr. for it ... 1 7 6 
1805. 
Oct. 14. Paid Mr. Clarke Balance of his Accounts for 

the New Roof &c. at the Meeting ... 1 1 1^ 

Oct. 14. To Wm. Flavell for 8 Bars Iron for Window... 4 

1809. 
Sep. 26. Paid at the Dolphin for the half yearly Minis- 
ters' Meeting 6 

Nov. 10. Paid Mr. Mobbs for Work done at the house 

in Mary Street 114 

1814. 
Mar. 31. Paid for Supply for Mr. Horsey during his 

journey to Wales 2 

Oct. 15. Sketch of the Laws &c. affecting Protestant 

Dissenters &o 5 

1815. 
Oct. 26. Paid Mr. Thos. Clark One Hundred and five 
pounds being the amount of two notes of 
Fifty pounds each with one year's Interest 
for Cash advanced by him on acct. of 
repairs & alterations made in Mr. Horsey 's 
House when he resumed his Office as Tutor 
of the Academy ... ... ... 105 

1816. 
May 31. Pd. Mr. Yates for perusal of Mr. Dingley's 

Will 2 

[Mr. John W. Dingley, of Harpole, was a ' 
member of the congregation. He be- 
queathed £20 to Northampton In- 
firmary.] 
1818. 
Aug. 27. Ale for Workmen at the Meeting 

Oct. 22. Pd. Mr. Harley's Bill 

Mr. Sharp's Do. 

Mrs. Johnson's Do 

Mr. Mason's Do. 

Mr. Russell Do. for Hatt pegs 

Women for cleaning Meeting ... 
Watts for fetching Water 
Laurence for extra Attendance 
Mr. Mee for use of his Copper... 

Mr. Elworthy's Bill Ministers' Meetg 

Singers at Do. per Mr. Russell 

1820. 
Apl. 7. Ward for Crying the Windows being broken... 
Apl. 19. Pd. Mr. Mason's Bill for dividing the pews Ac. 

Aug. 8. Mr. Harley's Bill for New Windows 

1827. 
May 4. New hymn book for the Pulpit 10 



2 


6 


25 8 





12 


6 


16 6 


8 


1 2 


3 


2 7 


8 


3 15 





17 


6 


1 





2 


6 


9 7 


8 


1 





1 





7 3 


6 


10 







WILLIAM CAREY 



Account of the Services 



IN oomrEonoN with 



The Carey Centenary^ 

At Moulton, on Thursday, May 27, 1886. 



SERMON BY Rev. H. B. ROBINSON, of Kettering; 
ADDRESSES 

By the chairman— The Rev. J. T. BROWN, of Northampim; 
Rev. J. LITCHFIELD, of Kingsthorpe : 

AND 

Revs. J. J. COOPER, T. GASQUOINE, A. B. MIDDLEDITCH, 

Of Nortluimpton. 

^t shoemaker pissionars: s iffem, bs Hamnnt pxm^VL. 

The History of the Baptist Church at Moulton^ 

By the Pastob, Rbv. W. A. WIOKS. 

ftflinioix of Sjctra(tf$ from :flt:&S« ano printeS IteeorBK. 



The DRYDEN PRESS, TAYLOR & SON, 9 College Street. 

ALEXANDER & SHEPHEARD, 21 Furnival Street, B.C. 

1886. 



Z^t JDrsOeti pref$K. 



Tatlob k Soir, 
Printers, 

9 COLLEGB StRBBT; NORTHAMFTOK. 



r 



R B FAC E, 



The holding of the Centenaiy SerYices in commemoration of Dr. 
Carey's ministrj at Moulton, appeared to offer a fayonrable opportunity 
for giving a digest of the history of the Baptist Church in and about 
that village, from as early a period as possible. As time would not 
permit of all the events connected with that history being given in the 
paper read by the Pastor at the meeting, an Appbkdix has been added, 
containing Extracts from Church Books and other MSS. and Pointed 
Reoords, not aeoessible to the general reader ; the whole forming an 
interesting addition to the litorature of Northamptonshire Ghureh 
History. 



JOHN TAYLOR. 



KoBTHAlCFTOir, 

/«^ 1, 1886. 



O N T15NTS. 



Sennon by the Bey. H. B. Bobinson 1 

Address by the Chairman, B«y. J. T. Brown .... 3 

„ „ Rev. J. Litchfield 7 

,^ ,, B«T. J. J. Cooper 9 

,, „ Bey. A. B. Middleditoh 11 

„ „ Bey. T. Gasquoine 12 

The Shoemaker Missionary, by *< Marianne Famingham" . 16 

History of the Baptist Church at Moolton . . . 17 

The baptists in the Cromwellian Army 25 

Baptist Confession of Faith, 1651 25 

Original Letters and Papers of State, 1649, addressed to Oliver 

Cromwell 26 

Religions Census of the Province of Canterbury, 1676 . . 26 

List of Baptist Meeting Houses, etc., 1717-1729 ... 26 

Qeneral Baptists in Northamptonshire 27 

Legacies belonging to the Church at Moulton . . • . 27 

John Painter 27 

The Stangers 27 

Qeorge Evans 28 

Members of College Lane Church resident at Moulton. . . 29 

Texts and Times of Preaching by Dr. Byland at Moulton 30 

William Carey 82 

Edward Sharman 33 

Thomas Burridge 35 

Francis Wheeler 35 

Joseph Lea 36 

The Northamptonshire Association of Baptist Churches . 36 

Succession of Baptist Ministers at Moulton, 1785-1882 . . 36 




CJe Catt2 Ctnitnat^, 



M.OULTON. 



p 



R. CAREY was called to the pastorate of the Moolton Baptist 
Church during the year 1786. Centenary Services were held 
to commemorate the event on Thursday, May 27, 1886. The 
following pages contain particulars of the meetings, which were well 
atteoded, and of a highly interesting nature. 

Amongst the Ministers present were the Revs. J. T. Brown, 
Northampton 5 H. B. Robinson, Kettering 5 W. A. Wicks, Pastor of 
the Church 5 T. Gasquoine, J. J. Cooper, A. B. Middleditch, and 
C. Ward, Northampton 5 J. Litchfield, Kingsthorpe; J. G. Scott, 
Guilsborough ; D. McLaren, Creaton^ E. Broom, Milton 5 A. Laishley, 
Old J A. C. G. Rendell, Earls Barton 3 T. Ruston, Long Buckby. 

In the afternoon there was a service in the chapel 5 the devotional 
part was conducted by Rev. A. B. Middleditch, and sermon was 
preached by 

The Rev. H. B. ROBINSON, 

From L Chronicles, xii., 32, " Men that had understanding of the times 

to know what Israel ought to do And all their brethren were at 

their commandment." They were men (he said) who saw the 
national crisis and all its possibilities of danger or of strength ; men 
whose trumpet notes could lead, and Israel's judgment follow 3 men 
who discerned the coming man, and who sprang to his side to share 
his struggles and aid his triumph. And "all their brethren were at 
their commandment." The larger Israel — the Church of Christ — has 
always needed such men, and to that Israel they are sent : its apostles 
and prophets. It was a man of this stamp that that Church had 



invited to the Pastorate loo years ago ; a man of humble birtb^ of 
humble occupation, of few advantages, but of lofty and heroic spirit. 
While he laboured there he mused, and while " he mused the dre 
burned. Then spake he with his tongue 5" and in spite of the stem 
" Sit down young man " of one older than he, and the cold incredu- 
lousness of others, the Word of God " was in his heart as a burning 
fire shut up in his bones, and he was weary of forbearing, and he 
could not stay." With missions on the conscience, missions on the 
brain, and missions on the heart, he asked but for some strong hand 
to hold the rope, and went down into the great mine of heathendom^ 
that he might gather living jewels for the Redeemer's crown ; and 
eventually " all his brethren were at his commandment." 

Such men never die. You could bury some men with their bodies. 
They uttered their last word and you forgot it. It was nothing to 
men that they had ever lived. Others you could never bury. 1 hey 
walk the earth in all the majesty of living influence through all the 
ages. It was part of their heritage. A few men imagine that they 
have nothing to do with the times ; they are only pilgrims here 5 it 
was nothing to them that empires tottered and plots were hatched ; 
they took no part in political life, and imagined they were above it; 
commercial crises were nothing to them -, they belonged, they said, 
to One whose " kingdom was not of this world." Happily, all their 
brethren were noi ^'at their commandment." The true man 
discerned that the Church was here to lead the times, to feel the 
fresh touch of the times, to see its needs and mould it into beauty 
and power. Men of discernment recognised inevitable changes and 
asked — (i) What new facilities are afforded for carrying on needed 
work ? (2) What fresh conditions demand the application of hitherto 
overlooked truths ? (3) What new events must be studied in the 
light of old principles ? (4) What is the probable destiny of new 
movements, and what new fields are likely to be occupied by 
developing thought? He could not say how far Carey had been 
moved by these things -, more is in a man*s heart than is seen in a 
biography. The great revival under Whitfield and Wesley was 
barely half-a-century old. The Sunday School spirit was just stirring 
into real power. India was presenting responsibilities and possibilities 
that could only be overlooked by the dull and neglected by the supine. 
A man of discerning eye would see in all these the signs of the times. 
But it may be that he took a view of his times that seemed very 
commonplace -, and yet, in the face of a powerful press which some 
men foolishly imagined was to supersede the pulpit 3 and a secularism 
which demanded the fruits of Christianity without a living Christ, 



and a vaanted progress in invention, in art and science^ and in secular 
education, it was a view we needed to take now 3 and notice — (i) 
That the command to carry the gospel to all humanity had never 
betm recalled. (2) That the times offered no invincible and special 
hiudrances to our work. (3) That the age has discovered nothing 
fitted to supersede the gospel we preach. Still the cross is the one 
great uplifting power in the world. Let them emulate Carey's zeal, 
and throw new energy into mission work. Let them bring that 
spirit to bear upon their own neiglibourhood, and not neglect the men 
who are dying under their very eaves. Let them not be afraid to 
adopt new methods, acting thoughtfully. Let them not be afraid of 
being called heterodox. Andrew Fuller was the heterodox theologian 
in the Baptist denomination. Carey was the Radi(5al Christian 
worker. Such men stand alone for a time, but eventually the times 
come round to them, and *' all their brethren are at their command- 
ment." Above all let them, in the spirit of their Master, be earnest 
and active ; for the time was flying, and life should be full of holy 
thought and self-sacrificing toil. Let them remember Carey then, 
not by keeping his centenary alone, but by ever living in his spirit. 

At the conclusion of the service a Tea was provided in the 
School-rooms adjoining, by the ladies of the congregation, and 

In the evening a Public Meeting was held in the Chapel, the Rev, 
J. T. Brown, of College Street Chapel, Northampton, presiding. 

After singing the hymn, 

POME, let us join our cheerful songs 
With angels round the throne ; 
Ten thousand thousand are their tongues, 
But all their joys are one. &o., 

The Rev. E. R. Broom, of Milton, read a portion of Scripture from 
the Psalms, and offered prayer 5 after which the following address 
was delivered by the Chairman, 

The Rev. J. T. BROWN. 

I am very glad to see that we have such a large attendance on 
this interesting occasion. I can easily imagine; that some stranger 
looking^ in might ask. What is the meaning of our gathering here 
to-night ? Why do we come to this particular spot ; and what is the 
purpose that we have in view ? And I need not remind you, friends, 
that we have to go a considerable distance in order to find a reason 
or answer to these enquiries. We have to go back a hundred years, 
in order that we may know why it is that we are here in 18S6. It 



is a long or short period according to the standard we take in viewiogr 
it. Looked at in relation to the life of a nation or to the history of our 
earth it is but a short period -, but when we think of it in relation to 
our own personal life and the few days which are allotted to man 
upon the earth, it becomes an impressive sum to our imagination. 
At that period to which our thoughts are turned the present world 
had not come into existence at all ; with very rare exceptions indeed 
all that were contemporary with Dr Carey have passed utterly away. 
Death — restless, omnivorous Death — has carried them all off the 
stage where they once lived and acted as we do now 5 and the grave 
has swallowed them up. It is a new world altogether to-day. One 
cannot help thinking during the steady flow of years since, what 
changes have come to pass, what memorable events have occurred and 
what progress has been made in many directions : at home, abroad, 
in our own country and its far-off dependencies; in almost every 
department of human activity; in science and art, in political 
movements, or in national life and development j and, most gratifying 
to us, the expansion, the work, and achievements of Christian zeal 
— affording cause, on the one hand, to excite surprise, and on the other 
to kindle a spirit of devout thanksgiving. 

If there had been a prophet in that day — but I suppose among 
its wonderful things Moulton has never produced one of tbese — if 
there had been a prophet in that day with vision far-sighted enough, 
and clear enough, to have foretold in particular detail what we 
and others since have witnessed, he would certainly have been deemed 
like Joseph with his dreams ; and his utterances would have been 
considered as wild words of a romantic fancy. Nor is anything 
more striking and more remarkable than the growth, the present 
breadth, the multiplied activities and hopeful aspects of missions 
to the heathen, with which Dr. Carey's name is associated as 
their modem founder, and their inspiring spirit. 

I think we in Northamptonshire have great cause to rejoice that 
Carey was born and nourished here; that this part of our country did 
give a man of such eminence and might, of such spiritual magnificence, 
and of such achievements, to the church and to the world. Our 
county is not least among the thousands in Israel in this respect 
It has produced many noble sons in the course of time : poets, that 
occupy a very high place as lasting singers who delight us to-day 
with their song ; and writers, too, of no mean rank on the literary 
roll. It has produced men of various kinds whose character, whose 
work, whose memory belong to the wealth and glory of old England. 



And there are three persons — looking at men of more modern date--> 
three persons in whom, I thinks for their characters^ their powers, 
and their achievements^ we in Northamptonshire, and Christian folks 
especially, may rejoice and be exceeding glad. With William Carey 
we couple Andrew Fuller, his firm friend and ally: a man of majestic 
intellect, who rendered immense service to the cause of truths and with 
him William Knibb, who did more by his eloquence and fire to kindle 
the spirit of this nation so that at length, and after a very long 
struggle, it completed by one resplendent act, the work of 
emancipating the slaves, which Wilberforce and Clarkson began. 
But neither among the more ancient or modem is there anyone who 
stands out in bolder form, or who has left a deeper impression 
of himself upon the world ; one who has done more divine or 
enduring work ; one who has risen to higher place or gained a more 
brilliant reputation, than he who was once termed in derision 
"the consecrated cobbler." I think we have reason to rejoice 
in the fact that William Carey was born among us. And there 
seems to me something marvellous when we think of what he 
was and what he became ; his vast labours — labours manifold and of 
a heroic kind ; whereto the cause he begun has grown, and what 
has sprung out of that thought that lodged in him so long 
before it could get out — that contagious feeling which he cherished ; 
when you look at that in connection with his humble 
origin. William Carey owed nothing to birth, to rank, to outward 
condition. Here — when he became the minister here — he was 
comparatively little known -, teaching children, and preaching to the 
poor, but with a soul that was travelling the world over and 
embracing all nations in its affection and sympathies. He drew 
nothing from the churches connected with him ; from Paulerspury 
where he was born, or Hackleton where he made or mended shoes, or 
Barton, Moulton, and Leicester where he preached. But they have 
drawn from him a distinction. Nobody knew him then. Those that 
were in association with him did not know how great William Carey 
was. The secret of his greatness and prospect of his future illustrious 
career were hidden from himself and them. None of the men who 
thought most of him, and hoped for more, knew to what a magnitude 
he would grow, or that he would become of such account that it 
would be a matter of pride that he was associated with any place. I 
think we feel that pride to-night, being here where for a time he 
laboured. 

But to me it is not the after parts of Dr. Carey's achievements 
that are most impressive. We look back from that loftiness to which 



he attained to trace the germs and signs of the greatness which crowned 
his latter days. He was great at the end of that course : he was 
great, too, in other ways at the beginning. The qualities which 
wrought in the larger sphere and have brought him such 
renown, were quietly manifesting themselves in obscure places. Dr. 
Carey, Founder of Missions, the great linguist, the celebrated Trans- 
lator, Professor of Sanscrit in the College of Fort William, the man 
that came at length to sit together with princes and receive the respect 
of societ)', has overshadowed the William Carey of humbler village 
ministries and labours. Our eyes have been drawn away from the 
deeper qualities which were hidden in him, and which were the 
foundations and moulding forces of that very life and work which 
have drawn the respect of the world. A hundred years ago in 
this place, at Hackleton, at Earls Barton and at Leicester, William 
Carey was shewing the worth and greatness which have raised him 
so high in our regard. In the very trials and discouragements, 
the sore travail and exercise of his soul -, in the chequered and weary 
strivings which he had to endure during the days of waiting and 
preparation, he displayed the nobility of his soul and character. In 
the occupation of his mind with the one great thought and purpose ; 
the fervour of passion with which he embaced it : ever uppermost, 
never lost sight of ; the loneliness of soul that found no fellow- 
ship or sympathy with what he deemed of such imperial necessity and 
such inspiring grafldeur ; the burden of the Lord upon him -, the fire 
which consumed himj in his* profound, tender compassion for the 
heathen, and his personal consecration to the work ; it is in these 
things, more than in the after achievements, that we find the true 
greatness of the man whose name is a power of inspiration to-day. 

And let us think what a lofty life he is living now. He is gone 
and yet here ; dead but living. He lives in the fruits of his work ; 
in the translations which he made ; in the subtle influences which 
have survived him and will continue : in the number of Societies and 
the multitude of missionaries which have entered into his labours, 
and owe their inspiration to this source. He lives ! He lives in the 
very thoughts that are stirring our hearts now ; and, I hope, will live 
yet more in the freshened interest, the stronger purpose, and in the 
profounder sense of obligation which the reference to him to-night 
shall produce. We are here not to worship heroes ; but we are here 
to think of him, that touching him in thought we may be brought 
a little nearer to him ; that by communion with the dead we 
may cherish and manifest a like-minded devotion. There are 
points in which even the thought of becoming like him cannot be 



7 

entertained. He is like a star that shines above us^ and whtcb we 
cannot reach; we can only look up and admire. But there are 
points where we may imitate him : in the interest he took in this 
subject 5 bis tender pity for the perishing peoples -, in the oneness of 
his soul with the Lord whom he loved ; the entrance into the largeness 
of divine purposes, and his desire for the spread and triumph of His 
kingdom ; in the patience that did not tire, the persistence that did not 
give in ; the heart that felt ; the brooding thought ; in the love which 
will pray and give and work, we may in some measure follow in the 
way of his steps. May the spirit of £Iijah fall upon those who 
succeed him — not one> but all Elishas. May Moulton Church, may 
Northamptonshire Churches, may the Churches of our land feel the 
inspiration which moved Carey ; and in personal devotion respond to 
motives which constrained him to go to India when none others 
would, and there were few to bid him "God speed ! " My wish and 
prayer is that this may be so for many a year, until it shall not be 
wanted. One of our brightest glories is what we attempt to do in 
this way. Lord ! may Thy kingdom come 5 Thy will be done on 
earth, even as it is done in heaven. 

The pastor (Rev. W. A. Wicks) followed, giving a Sketch of the 
History of Moulton Baptist Church (seep. 17}; after which was 
sung the hymn, 

/LL hail the power of Jesns' name ! 
Let angels prostrate fall : * 

Bring forth the royal diadem. 
And crown Him Lord of all. &c. 

The Rev. J. LITCHFIELD 
then addressed the meeting as under : — 

Amongst the ancient Romans there was a festival which occurred 
only once in a century. It was considered a happy omen for the 
reign during which this festival was held ; and the heralds who 
announced it called the people to come and see what none of them 
had seen before, and none of them would live to see again. Supposing 
there had been nothing peculiar in this case, and we were reviewing 
the history of the most ordinary house of prayer, a place where the 
true gospel had been preached and borne fruit ; this commemoration 
would relate to nothing little or insignificant. The gathering of 
Christian disciples into a Church, be their number ever so small, gives 
visibility to the Kingdom of Christ. Each instance of conversion is 
the saving of a soul from death ; and "when mention shall be made of 
Rahab and Babylon no more, " it shall be said of Zion, this maa 
was bom there.'* 



8 

Let the sect which occupies a place of worship be what it may, 
only let Christ be their trust and rejoicing, and they who pass by have 
reason to say " The Lord bless thee ! O habitation of justice and 
mountain of holiness ! " Here has been seen the hoary head of the 
righteous, *' which is a crown of glory." Here have been heard the 
voices like those of old« which filled the temple with the cry of 
'' Hosanna ! to the Son of David.'* Here the stranger has had the 
secrets of his heart made manifest ; the mourner has put on garments 
of praise ; the orphan has been taught to say, " When my father and 
mother forsake me^ then the Lord will take me up." It has been the 
birthplace and the home of piety. The tempted, the tried^ the 
weary, have here found rest. Its modest front seems ever to ask, 
''Who is on the Lord's side?" It speaks to the ungodly of a 
sanctuary into which they may not enter -, and though here they may 
cross the threshold, there is a fellowship to which they are strangers. It 
is the first place to which many of you were taken in infancy ; the last 
to which old age fondly clings ; and while the living worship within, 
around its precincts are peaceful chambers of the dead. When we 
think of the principles of which the sanctuary is an embodiment and 
expression, and of the sacred influences which it sends forth over 
men's homes and lives -, when we remember how much it has been a 
check to vice and a stimulus to all that is pure and of good report, wc 
need not wonder that the Christian should say, 

Angels that make Thy Ghnroh 
Shall witness my devoiion there. 

If then this were a common chapel anniversary, the occasion 
would gather around it associations of deep and sacred interest. 
Eternity exalts and hallows everything which it takes into connection 
with itself; the redemption of the soul is precious; nothing is little 
that points to Calvary and heaven ; no wonders will compare with 
the wonders of grace. But with what intensity do these reflections 
come upon us when we think of a period so long as loo years: long 
in comparison with the life of man, and especially with the best part 
of that life. What displays of grace, what diversities of religious 
experience rise in the review. In that time, often have the foun- 
dations of rock and of sand been built upon. Often has an abundant 
entrance into the Kingdom been ministered to some ; while others 
have been saved yet so as by fire. Often has the blade matured into 
the ear, and that again ripened for the harvest ; and often, too, has the 
green shoot withered away because it had no depth of earth. Here 
has been many times the morning cloud and the early dew ; and also 
the shock of corn fully ripe in the season. The pulpit and the 



9 

pews alike have had many successive occupants. Grey heads have 
disappeared} others fast growing grey; ministers, deacons. 
Church members, have finished their course. Your fathers, 
where are they? 

The Chairman then called upon 

Thk Rev. J. J. COOPER 

who said : 

I understand the object of this meeting is to keep green in our 
memory the name of Dr. Carey ; to form, if we can, some estimate 
of his work, and stimulate others to follow in his steps. This is not 
easy, for his steps were far apart from the common ways of men. 
The Lord Jesus said wheresoever His gospel was preached the story of 
the woman who broke over him a vase of ointment should be told for 
a memorial of her. Carey did something like that in a higher sense. 
The Bible was a sealed book, and he broke the seal, and poured its 
precious truths on the head of India, and the perfume is spreading to 
this day. 

Thomas Fuller, in his own quaint way, said of Northamptonshire, 
that it is an apple which has no core to be cut out, and no rind to be 
peeled off. He had an evident appreciation of the county, and as 
much as that may be said of many Northamptonshire people. In the 
apple, the aim of nature is to preserve what nestles in the heart of it 
— the seed after its kind. £xcept for eating purposes an apple would 
not be improved bj taking out the core and cutting off the rind, but 
we do not want the county eaten. In the past it has been wealthy 
in honoured men, and we may hope its wealth is not yet exhausted. 
Of course we know what Fuller means. 

We have been deeply stirred as we have again heard the story of 
Carey's life. Carey, Marshman, Ward — these three were great 
and heroic men, but the greatest of these was Carey. All gave 
themselves to India for Christ's sake, but he gave India the Bible as well 
as himself. It is not easy for us to see all this means. Dr. H. Rogers 
tells us a dream in one of his writings. Probably it was a waking 
dream. But he tells us he dreamt that the world awoke one morning 
to find the Bible a blank book. Every letter was gone. Not only 
firom the Bible as a book 5 but from every book which had contained 
quotations from it, all was gone and a blank remained. Just think 
what that would mean to us ! Shakespeare had great gaps in it ; 
most of the poets had lost many of their charms ; and so on through 
all the literature of our land, all the Bible truths and words were gone. 
Gone from all places except from the hearts in which it was stored in 



lO 

love. Many who had never cared for it before were now greatly 
distressed. If that were our case to-day what would England be ? 
But something like that was the case in India. Its millions knew 
nothing of its promises which cheer us, nothing of its doctrines which 
sustain us, nothing of the inspiring life of him about whom the book 
is written. The Bible was a blank book in India till Carey gave it 
the words of life. We shall estimate the work he did just as we 
value and believe the Bible. Think of no one in England knowing 
anything about Jesus Christ ! I have read of a lady who was passing 
a gipsy camp. She asked permission to enter one of the tents, and 
at last obtained it. There lay a boy who was dying. She bent down 
and whispered in his ear that glorious truth '' God so loved the 
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." There was no 
response. A second time she repeated the epitome of all that is 
precious in the book. Still there was silence. A third time the 
words were uttered -, and the boy opened his eyes, and said, '* I never 
heard of him before ; please thank him for me." We are shocked 
to find anyone here who does not know something about the Christ of 
God. Yet such was the condition of India, that Christ was unknown 
till Carey gave it the Bible. 

I have long had respect for leather, and that respect has been 
increased of late years. But I thought a great deal more of it when 
1 heard that Carey, in teaching his boys geography, not being able to 
buy a globe, taught them from one made by himself of leather. His 
mind was satiu'ated with a knowledge of peoples and places on the 
globe, and of their wants and woes -, and he had no rest in his spirit 
because they knew not God. Does not this show us the spirit of the 
man ? It shows us how intense his zeal was for the God he loved, 
and how anxious he was that others should know Him who had 
redeemed the world. It is a pathetic story. In this man's heart a 
fire was burning, yet it was suppressed because his plans were opposed 
and his schemes thought wild. But because the fire was there, 
lighted by God's own love, it made itself manifest 3 and to-day it 
gleams amidst the millions of India. 

T IVES of great men all zemind us 
J We can make our lives sublime. 
And, departing, leave behind us 
Footprints on the sands of time. 

Dr. Carey speaks to us to-day, to young men, to young women. 
He has made the path of honour and glory easy for you. Will you 



II 

commemorate this day by giving yourselves to the service of man 
for the Lord's sake? Who will say this day: Lord, here am I, 
send me ! 

The Rev. A. B. MIDDLEDITCH, 

in response to the Chairman's invitation, briefly spoke as follows : — 

Mr. Wicks made one remark which I venture to question, viz., 
that the speakers on the platform were anxious to give their speeches. 
When I came I had no idea of having to make a speech upon 
this auspicious occasion 5 and it is with some reluctance that I 
venture to address you, lest I might mar the joy and brightness of the 
meeting. Perhaps a word to young men, speaking on the hint 
thrown out by Mr. Cooper, would be in harmony with this happy 
and joyous centenary of William Carey. Many references have been 
made to-day to the apparently insurmountable difliculties that 
shrouded and clouded the early days of Carey — the difficulty of 
humble origin ; the difficulty of open and pronounced opposition, so 
tersely embodied in the words of the afternoon preacher, " Sit down, 
young man -, " the difficulty of every door seeming to close as he 
stepped out into the great undertaking of his life. It may be that 
some of Carey's difficulties are yours ; not in degree but in principle. 
In your heart there may be burning that holy fire of earnest desire to 
serve Christ, but you are pressed down because of the difficulties of 
the way. You may have made known your desire to work for the 
Master, but the stem " Sit down, young man,'' is ringing in your 
ears -, for by some strange ordering when we want to sit down they 
say *' Stand up," and when we want to stand up they say ''Sit down." 
But I would most earnestly say, let Carey's grand example inspire us 5 
remembering that, having planted his foot on the ladder of God's 
work, he never faltered or failed until by the Grace of God he reached 
its highest point. When he was sternly bidden sit down, called a 
fanatic and a madman, he did not resent but calmly endured, holding 
on his way. He was not rebellious, he did not throw up his noble 
ideal j but with a manly, noble, heroic courage — a courage equal in 
my opinion to any shown in his life — he was unfaltering and steadfast 
in his loyalty and love to Christ and the heathen world. If God has 
planted any holy impulse in our hearts, never let difficulties hinder 
us (they are insignificant to Carey's) ; but with holy daring let us be 
trae to our convictions at all cost. We may not all be Careys in 
position, but we can if we will be Careys in spirit. May Grod help us 
to live in his spirit -, doing all, daring all 5 and God, yea, even our 
own God, will help us. 



12 

After reading the hymn 245 (which was written by Krishna Pal) 
the Chairman said that although there had before been a convert to 
Christianity — ^a descendant of the Portuguese, yet Krishna Pal was the 
first Christian conrert from heathenism. He spoke of the joy the 
baptism of this first Hindoo must hare been to the three men who 
had waited so long. The hymn was then sung by the congregation. 

PTHOn, my aoid, forget no more, 
The Friend who all thy misery bore : 
Let every idol be forgot, 
But, O my soul, forget Him not. 

JesTU, for thee, a body takes, 
Thy goilt assumes, thy fetters breaks , 
IHsdharging all thy dreadful debt ; 
And canst thoa e'er sadh love forge t P 

Benonnoe thy works and ways with grief. 
And fly to this most sure relief ; 
Nor Him forget who left His throne. 
And for thy life gave up His own. 

Infinite truth and meroy shine 

In Him, and He HimsflTf is thine : 

And canst thou, then, with sin beset, 

Such dhanns, such matchless dhanns forget P 

Ah! no: till life itself depart^ 
His name shall cheer and warm my heart ; 
And, lisping this, from earth I'll rise. 
And join the chorus of the skies. 

Ah ! no : when all things else expire^ 
And perish in the general fire. 
This name all others shall survive. 
And through eternity shall live. 

The Rev. T. GASQUOINE 

said that it had been his privilege during the last two or three days to 
tread ground made sacred by many tender Nonconformist memories. 
After briefly mentioning the names of Thomas Toller, T. N. Toller, 
the three Bulls of Newport Pagnell^ he passed on to FuUer and Carey, 
and continued : 

I think you will see that there are two things about these men 
who have left their mark in the world. First there was a strong 
personality. Carey and Fuller were real men. And besides that 
there is a spiritual force which has passed down to our own time ; and 
this is, after all, what will be found in every true minister, even thoagh 
he be called to walk in narrow paths. It was so with Hiro^ the Great 



13 

IMinister — for the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, yon will 
remember, speaks of Christ as a minister — it was so with Christ. 
What do I mean w|?eD I say Christ ? It is an easy word to utter ; as 
easy as any common word. But who is Christ ? The word Christ 
represents the personality of one who lived eighteen centuries ago in 
this world of ours, in Jerusalem and Palestine ; and it represents a 
spiritual force which is felt now. There is the personality^ the man 
Jesas who lived so many centuries ago ; and this is what those about 
QS who reject the Christian faith have to explain. They have to 
explain that historic life^ and the secret of its wondrous influence on 
the history of the nations. But we have recognised more than this 
personality. We are conscious of a spiritual force which is felt now. 
Men tell us that as secular education is increasing, so scepticism is 
growing in India. There may well be these difficulties in India. 
England, at first evangelized by Christian Missions, has never yet been 
brought out and out into the Kingdom of Christ. Once in my life-« 
may it never happen to me again ~ I have spoken to a lad at my own 
door, a lad of ten or twelve years, and, mentioning to him Jesus, he 
said he had never heard of Him. England has not yet been brought 
to the feet of Christ. But there is many a sadder sight than of a 
lad who had not heard of Jesus. A sadder thing is to find that there 
are men who think of Jesus as a man who lived centuries ago, but 
have never felt Christ in them ; are not conscious of that tender 
spiritual force. The Christ who is crucified is not merely the 
Jesus who was hung upon the tree so long ago ; but he is crucified 
in fr.f now when he is not loved, not trusted. Christ who rises now 
is not merely Jesus who rose so many years ago from the grave just 
outside Jerusalem — it is sometimes even difficult for us to understand 
all that actually occurred then — ^but it is the living Christ, the Word of 
God, who rises and speaks and rules in our hearts now. Our Saviour ! 
Our King ! Now it is this which Carey felt ; he was lifted up to a 
fellowship with the living Christ. Carey cared for all the subjects of 
the King. Carey cared for those who lived far away in India ; and 
he said to himself, '' These are the subjects of my King, and to 
these I must go with the Gospel of the King." 

Let us fed Christ in us. I tell you, I for one believe there are 
great events before the Church of God. If Carey came back be 
would perhaps be dispirited if he counted up the number of Christians 
in all our Missions in India. But I believe he would fall on his knees 
before the King when he observed the movement among the people ! 
the yearning for light and truth. And is not this the condition of 
England too ? There is a great movement, and God is preparing to 



bless us. As I walked along the ridge from Kingsthorpe to Moulton, 
and looked down on one side to the town of Northampton, and on 
the other to the beautiful champaign country, with its woods and 
meadows and villages, I reminded myself of our difficulties in work 
both in town and country; but remembered too that they both 
belonged to the King. We make too much of our difficulties. The 
more I read of history, the more I am convinced that our difficulties 
are really no greater than they ever were. Just think of what we 
have in part heard of to-night — Carey, when this chapel needed 
rebuilding, being afraid to go forth to beg, lest his little school, on 
which he depended for a livelihood, should fall away ; and yet being 
able to raise from his own people only sS2 toward the ^loo needed. 
We ought to be ashamed of ourselves making so much of our diffi- 
culties. There are difficulties of course, and it would be a sad day 
for England and for Christian workers when there were not ; but God 
will bless us if only we live, as Carey and Fuller lived, in fellowship 
with Christ the King. 

The cordial thanks of the meeting to the speakers was proposed 
by the Rev. W. A. Wicks j and after singing the hymn, 



p 



,0 ye messeng^ers of Gk)d ; 

Like tiie beams of morning, fly ! 
Take the wonder-working rod ; 
Lift the Saviour's cross on high. &o., 



The Rev. J. Laishley, of Old, offered prayer. The benediction was 
pronounced by the Chairman. 



The Shoemaker Missionart. 



By particular desire we insert the following Poem, which 
appeared in the Christian World of June 3, 1886 : — 

THE greatest things in qniet places grow ; 
And men are like the trees, which need the light 
And free fresh air to make them strong for life. 
The noblest deeds in silence are thought out ; 
And plans are bom while only stars look on, 
And hopes are whispered to the birds and flowers, 
Which keep the secret. So the grand oaks grow 
That once were acorns : so the grand deeds, too, 
That once were only dreams. 

A little village in Northamptonshire 

Became the home, a hundred years ago, 

Of a young man, poor and unlearned at first, 

Whose thoughts were clarion-calls he needs must hear 

And dared not disobey. He read the news 

How India, with its costly merchandise, 

Its wondrous wealth, and yast extent of land 

Did now belong to England. And he read 

How Agni, Soma, and a host of gods 

Were worshipped by the Indians, and his heart 

Was filled with longing to go forth, and tell 

The Gk)od News of the love of Jesus Christ, 

And the glad Heaven which He has made the Homa 

For all the peoples of the Father's world. 

G^at need had he of patience. No one cared 
To listen to the visionary talk 
Of him they deemed fanatic. So he took 
The little village church they offered him. 
And when the stipend, ten or fifteen pounds, 
Ptoved all too meagre, made the village shoes, 
And mended them ; and taught the village boys, 
Making a globe of leather for his school, 



i6 

And giving lessons in geography — 

Ghieflj of India. Bat the Hoolton fields 

Were his prayer-plaoes, and the silent trees 

Looked down the while he made his high resolves, 

And the oalm stars smiled with approving light, 

And now and then the wakefnl nightingale 

Might hear another plaintive lay than hers 

Break throngh the stillness, and, ** O Lord, how long ? '* 

Come from the lips of Carey. 

Much he tried 
To get the ear of others. At all meeting times, 
When ministers together oame for talk, 
He was among them, and in earnest words 
Pleaded the duty of the modem Chnrch 
To oare for Lidia. " Gk>d has given the land 
To ns,*' he cried, *<and we must win it back 
To Christ Oh, brothers, why still hesitate P 
Let ns go forward, and expect great things 
From Gx>d, and then attempt great things for Gbd 
Who will not disappoint ns.'* Angrily 
An older man cried ont, '* Sit down, young man.*' 
Yet was not Carey silenced. 

Many days 
Passed on before he had his heart's desire :— 
And then, behold, in far off Serampore 
The man of Monlton ; honoured, learned, praised, 
Professor in the college ; translator 
Of the most Holy Book he loved so well. 
Leader of modem missions, whose good name 
Was spoken in our English Parliaments 
And in the homes of India ; so he lived : 
And, like a tree whose leaves for healing g^w. 
In stately strength and beauty reared his head. 
Because his great true heart was brave for God. 

MASZAmn FABinzroBix. 




^ietot^ of (l^t ^ap(M CJutcJ* 

By thb Pastor, The Rev. W. A. WICKS. 




T THOUGHT some few days ago that you ought to have at this 
I meeting a brief history of the Moulton Baptists. I therefore 
dipped into the " Memoirs of John Stanger," waded through 
the Church Books, and put numerous questions to the silvery-headed, 
and am consequently prepared to lay before you some true statements 
concerning difficulties faced and fought, and 
concerning Christian work planned and accom. 
plisbed by the Baptists in this village. Allow 
me to commence by making reference to a 
Mr. Stanger and a Mr. Staughton. Mr. Stanger 
. was a sturdy Nonconformist farmer, who for 
daring to preach the gospel had to suffer under 
the Conventicle Act. Warrants were several 
times issued for the seizure of his goods and 
cattle. He was mostly unfortunate enough to 
lose his goods, but generally fortunate enough to save the beasts. 
How ? His neighbours were kindly disposed, and his house stood 
on the borders of this county j hence, when the neighbours came 
and informed him that his enemies were coming, he instantly arose, 
gathered the beasts together, and drove them over the river into 
Rutlandshire. Mr. Staughton was a Baptist Minister, who also 
had to suffer under the Conventicle Act. He languished in North- 
ampton Jail for three years and a half; at the same time that 
the immortal Bunyan lay a-dreaming in Bedford prison. Now 
Mr. Stanger's son William married Mr. Staughton's daughter 5 
and after residing in several parts of Northamptonshire came to 
live at Moulton, somewhere about the year 1710, possibly a little 
later. Whilst this William Stanger and his wife lived here, he 
held i dual position, viz., that of farmer and pastor. During the 
week he carefully cultivated the soil, and on the sabbath he faithfully 
preached to the members of the little General Baptist Church. From 
an old document — which would delight the eyes of antiquarians — it 
appears that a certain Mr. George Cox, of whom little is now known, 



i8 

and a few zealous men from Northampton, were connected with the 
earlj founders of this little Greneral Baptist Community. £ut who 
the actual founders of the Church were, and what the precise date of 
establishing the Church was, cannot be determined.* 

When good William Stanger died, in the year 1740, his son 
Thomas immediately succeeded him in the farming business; and 
subsequently in the pastoral office. He is said to have been a plain 
unlettered preacher ; but so consistent was his conduct that he won 
the esteem of all, and so warm were his sermons that he was the 
means of doing good to very many. His own house was the place 
where the members of his flock assembled for worship. He was, 
however, obliged, after a time, to hire a school-room ; and managed, 
a few years later, through much self-denying labour, to erect a small 
chapel. He had to ask Mr. William Painter, the village school- 
master, to be his co-pastor ; owing to the numerous services which 
he had to conduct in the many surrounding villages. Let it be stated 
concerning Stanger that he served "not the Church for filthy 
lucre*s sake, but of a ready mind;" for it is not probable that he 
received more than ^10 during the whole of his ministerial work. 
When he died, somewhat suddenly, in the year 1768, he was 
greatly lamented. It could be said of him even as of Stephen, 
" Devout men made great lamentation over him." 

After Thomas Stanger fell asleep no one seems to have been 
chosen to fill the vacant pastorate. His widow became very anxious 
about the Church. She feared things would not prosper, but deter- 
mined to do her best to make them succeed. And her son records 
that it was by her resolution and influence that the people were kept 
together *' when their different views and altercations were tending to 
dissolve the Church or shut up the Meeting-house." When this 
Deborah, this mother in Israel, was called to her reward (some 13 
years after her husband), the things she had dreaded came to pass. The 
members of the Church got loose in their theological views, ultimately 
became Unitarian, and soon dispersed. 

A little time passed — how short a period cannot be stated — and 
some preachers belonging to the Particular Baptist body came over to 
Moulton and commenced holding services in the little deserted chapel. 
They are described as sturdy orthodox men. The Holy Spirit applied 
their words to the hearts of the bearers. Those who professed faith 

* It IB clear that whilst the General Baptists at Moulton were prospering 
under the ministry of the Stangers, there were some Particular Baptists in the 
village yho enjoyed the ministry of Mr. Geo. Eyans, to whom reference is 
made in the Appendix; these Particular Baptists, a little later on, held 
services in the house of a Mr. Feavers, and were enrolled as members of the 
Church at College Lane. No connected record can be given of them. 



were baptjzed^ and brought into Christian fellowship. Thus a Cal- 
vinistic Baptist Church was formed. The members on the i6th of 
June« i785> inct together and agreed to ask a young man named 
William Carey to be their minister. The invitation on being received 
was duly accepted. After Mr. Carey had profitably ministered to the 
people for a little over twelve months, at a Church Meeting held 
Nov. 2, 1786, it was *' Agreed universally " to call him "to the Office 
of Pastor/* which was accordingly done. On the ist February in the 
following year he '^ agreed to accept the call," and it was forthwith 
determined that he should be ordained in the autumn. The 
Ordination Services were most successful. Dr. Ryland " introduced 
the service and received the call and confession 5 ** Mr. John Stanger, of 
BesseFs Green (a descendant of the Stangers before referred to), 
ofiered the ordination prayer 5 Mr. Sutcliff, of Olney, gave the charge 
from a Tim. iv.,5., " Make full proof of thy ministry ; " Mr. £dmonds, 
of Guilsborough, then prayed ; Mr. Fuller next mounted the pulpit, 
and preached from Psalm Ixviii. 18., "Thou hast received gifts 
from men.*' This was not, however, deemed sufficient, so they had 
another discourse (how they liked sermons then-a-day) from the 
words *' Rejoice with trembling." Of William Carey it could not be 
said he was " passing rich with 5^40 a year/* for he only received 
^10 per annum from the Church, and ^5 from a fund in London. 
In order to enlarge his income he was obliged to keep a school, from 
which he received about 7/6 per week. He, however, found that he 
was unfit for the post of school-master, so he closed the school and 
turned to his old trade of shoemaking j and once a fortnight he might 
have been seen walking to Northampton with a bag full of shoes for 
delivery to a government contractor, and then returning home with 
leather for another two weeks* work. This noble little man met his 
Church soon after his ordination, and with them drew up and signed 
a Covenant. That Covenant is in use to-day ; dll members on being 
received into the Church sign it. It is somewhat lengthy, and is 
designed to promote the purity and well-being of the Church. The 
Lord so blessed Carey's labours here, that in a short time it became 
necessary to enlarge the sanctuary 3 it was also needful to do some- 
thing to the building for another reason : the walls were so ruinous 
as to render it unsafe to meet between them. The following letter 
was therefore written and sent forth : — 

Letter of Request on behalf of the Ohubob at MoiTZ/roir. 

To all ihose who are generooaly disposed to enoourage the Publioation of the 

eyerlasting Gtospel ; with a View to the Honour of the Great Bedeemer, 

and the Salvation of perishing Sinners, the following Case is humbly 

submitted. — Dear Brethren, 

We are a rery poor Congregation of the Baptist Denomination, who assemble 

for Divine Wor^p at Koulton, near Northampton, and are possessed of a 



20 

■mall old MMtxng-HonBe, whioh ia exceedingly oat of Repair, and one Side 
Wall is become eo ruinons, that we are justly apprehensiye it will be dangerous 
to meet theie much longer. Besides, it has pleased Gk>d, since our present 
Minister came among as, to awaken a considerable Number of Persons to a 
serious Concern for ike Salvation of their Souls ; and to incline many others to 
attend upon the Preaching of the Gh>spel ; so that for two Tears past we have 
not had Boom sufficient to contain them, and we have Reason to beHeve that 
Kumbers more would attend if we could accommodate them when thoy oome. 
The village is large and populous; many there, and in the neighbouring 
Villages, seem inclined to inquire after the Truth. But we are all so poor, 
that, upon attempting a Collection among ourselves, we could raise but a few- 
Shillings above Two Pounds. And yet the Affair is no longer a matter of mere 
Expedience, but of Kecessity, unless we would give up the Gk>spel, or run th& 
lUsque of being buried in the Buins of our Building.— We have therefore been 
advised by our Erien48, not only to repair, but enlarge the Place, which we 
intend to do to the Extent of nine Peet in the Width, which will make it 
thirty Feet Square ; and as most of the Walls must come down, and the roof 
must be new, we fear it cannot be done under the Expenoe of One Hundred 
Pounds, or upwards. 

At the same time, the Peculiar Situation of our Minister, Mr. Carey, renders 
it impossible for us to send him far abroad to collect the Contributions of the 
Charitable ; as we are able to raise him but about Ten Pounds per Annum, so 
that he is obliged to keep a School for his Support ; And as there are two other 
Schools in the Town, if he was to leave Home to collect for the Building, he 
must probably quit his Station on his Betum, for Want of a Maintenance. 
If, therefore, God should put it into the Heart of any of oxa Christian Friends 
at a Distance to assist us in our Distress and Necessity, we would beg of them 
to remit the Money that they may collect for us, to the care of the Bev. Mr. 
Byland, in Gyles's-street, Nortluunpton. 

Imploring the Blessing of Gtod on all that may kindly relieve us in our low 
Estate, We are willing to subscribe ourselves 

Your much obliged and affectionate Friends, 

WiLXJAH Casst, Minister. 



Signed in Behalf of the Church and'j Thoi£AS Tift, Beacon. 
Congregation at Moultoit, in \ Wiluak Stavfobd. 
Northamptenshire, April 23, 1787. ) John Law. 

Jascbs Dovb. 



Wa, whose Names are under-written, believe the above Case to be truly repre- 
sented, and worthy of Encouragement. 

John Evans, Northampton; Albzandeb Patnb, JTalffrape; 

BoBEBT Hall, Arnsby ; John Edmonds, OuiUhorough; 

Andbew Fulleb, Kettering ; J. W. Mobbis, Clipston; 

John Byland, jun. Northampton ; Biohabd Ho^eb, Nottingham ; 

John Sutoliff, Olney ; Ebbnbzbb Cook, Bwuteible; 



21 

In the letter on behalf of the Church at Moulton, to the Ministers 
and Messengers of the Baptist Charches assembled at Kettering on 
Maj 27 and 28, 1788, it is stated that the chapel had received the 
necessary attention^ but that a debt remained upon it. This debt 
was, however, after great exertion removed. Carey and Ryland 
frequently met, and heartily appreciated one another. In the latter's 
diary are the following references to the former : — 

" [Jan. 9. — ^Mr. Carey, who now preaches oonstanily at Monlton with oon* 
■iderable prospeot of saocess, oame over and preached the lecture, from '* Th« 
wages of aju is death," &o. I was much pleased with many things in his 
disdotiTse : he seems to promise much osefnlness, setting out on a good plan, 
though a little incoirect in his expressions ; hut manifests a hearty concern to 
do good, and a oonsiBtent view of the Qt>BpeL} 

" [1786]. Sept. 21.— Mr. Carey, of Moulton, preached from Psalm xvi. 8. 
" I set the Lord always before me." His prayer was singnlariy excellent^ 
and many things in the sermon very dose and important. O that I had much 
of the like deep sense of divine truth ! 

** [1788], July 8. — ^Asked Brother Carey to preach. Some of our people, who 
are wise above what is written, would not hear him, called him an Arminian, 
and discovered a strange spirit. Lord pity us ! I am almost worn out with 
grief at these foolish cavils against some* of the best of my brethren, men of 
Gk>dy who are only hated because of their zeal for holiness." 

Carey received an invitation from a Baptist Church in Leicester 
soon after he had completed his fourth year in this village ; which^ 
owing to his straightened circumstances^ he felt obliged to accept; 
and after labouring in Leicester for three years and nine months he 
sailed across stormy seas to become^ as yonder tablet says, ''the 
Evangelist of India," and *' the Father of Modern Missions." 

Mr. Edward Sharman, of Cottesbrook, was chosen as Dr. Carey's 
successor in the Moulton ministry. It is difficult to ascertain 
whether he came to the village in 1789 or two years later; the 
minutes in the Church Books are, for a wonder, at this point, some^ 
what contradictory. Nothing is recorded concerning Mr. Sharman 's 
work here. The following saddening paragraph however occurs : 
''Apl I. 1795. At our Church Meeting Whe Agreed to send one 
of our Members to Clipston to the Ministers Meeting for Advice on 
Account of our Ministers Deinieng the Godhead of Christ.*' I cannot 
however, inform you whether the ministers succeeded in showing the 
Moulton pastor his error, or whether they advised him to resign his 



22 

pastorate. 3ut oq Jane 7 th of the same year the following letter 
was sent to the Annual Meeting of the Association at Kettering : — 

The Ghnroh of Ghritt Meeting at Monltcm holding the Doctrines mentioned at 
the Head of the CiTonlar Letter to the ministem And Meeaengem at sn 
Afisooiation at Kettering June 1796 — Sendeth Ghristiaa Loyo. 

Brethren in the Lord, 

Since your Last Annual Meeting Various has heen the trials & Difficulties 
Which we have had trials from the World trials in the Church thatofQiving 
Up our Late Minister is Kot one of the Least We Loyed him as a Christian 
And a teacher But by Ko Means can or Do we Wish to embrace is present 
Sentiments we pray that GK)d may Appear for him and bring him back to the 
truth as it is in Christ. But When we Consider that the Cause of Christ is 
in so Low a State With us this is the Greatest of All trials— since the Last 
Association We haye Lost two members by Death — and there Does Not 
Appear that Aney Are At present Willing to fill up their Plaee Excepting the 
restorelng of one member that had been Seperated — from the time of our 
present Minister Coming Amongst us we haye meny more People to hear the 
Word but What Effect it may haye Must be Left to the Pleasure of our Oreat 
master Who Sends By Whom he Will And blesses his own Message to Whom 
he please We hope that the Lord Will turn Again and bless us Indeed When 
our Dear paster Mr Carey Kemoyed from us Mr Payne of Walgraye has in 
some things Stood in his Place and we are much Indebted to him And the 
Church At Walgraye for their kindness And We hope that the Ministers Will 
as much as Can be Conyenient Giye us Assistance and if Good Should be 
Done your Beward from God Will be Great may the Lord bless And be with 
yuu all. 

Signed by us in the Name of the Church 

Daniel Wasd 
Thoxas Law 

BOBBBT ByFIBLD 

Moulton John Law 

June 7^ 1795 Bobbbt Sxhb 

Mr. Sbarman bad evidently resigned the pastorate when the above 
letter was sent to the Association.* 

The good brother who for the next few years kept the Church 
Book had not had the advantage of much schooling -, his writing is 
decidedly not the best I have seen ; and his spelling is frequently 
quite astonishing: e,g., he says of himself and members^ *'Whe 
met in peas and parted in Younity ; " but no doubt his heart was 
right in the sight of God, and that is the chief thing. 

Mr. Thomas Berridge next received a call to the office of pastor j 
his Ordination took place on the 13th April, 1802. He was a draper 
in Northampton 3 his shop was opposite the Northamptonshire 
Union Bank ; he served the Church here for sixteen years gratuitously. 

* The Titles of seyeral pamphlets which Mr. Sharraan published are g^ren in the 

Ajpfpendix, 



23 

During his ministry a gallery was built to accommodate the increasing 
congregation ; a vestry was also built, and strange to say the baptistry 
was in the centre of the vestry j before this time they used to baptize 
in the sheep- wash at the bottom of the hill. Mr. Berridge also 
established a Sunday School here, and commenced preaching at 
Pitsford. There being no chapel at that little, village, my senior 
deacon*s father opened his house for the services ; since that time 
meetings have been regularly held. I have heard several stories about 
good Mr. Berridge. Here's one. When he drove over to Moultou 
on Sabbath mornings he always brought his dinner with him, cooked 
it in the vestry, and invited all who came from a distance to ]oin him. 
Mr. Pickering tells me, that when he was a very little boy, his father 
and mother used to take him to town on market days, and leave him 
in Mr. Berridge's shop whilst they transacted their business. A 
patriarch now present assures me that one Sunday morning he "crept, 
like a snail, unwillingly to school,** making a noise the reverse of 
melodious, and staining his cheeks with tears. Mr. Berridge seeing 
him soon caused the rain of tears to cease, and the sunny smiles to 
appear, by the gift of a penny. Little acts of kindness live on in the 
memory when many sermons are forgotten. This gracious pastor 
thought of endowing the Church, but was fortunately led to alter his 
mind 3 and I am glad he was, for endowments are generally more of 
a curse than a blessing. He seems to have resigned the oversight of 
the Church about the year 1817, because he could not see eye to eye 
with the members on a certain matter. In leaving he recommended, 
as his successor, a young man who had recently left the Bristol 
College; whose name was Francis Wheeler. This young man 
received and accepted a call. For 35 long years did he labour 
here. Whilst here he opened a school, and several present, such 
as our Chairman, Mr. Pickering, and Mr. Westley, were educated 
in that school. 

1 shall say very little of Mr. Wheeler, for I feel I cannot speak 
in terms sufficiently eloquent. Some who will presently address 
you will doubtless speak of him in fitting manner. As Mr. 
Wheeler's pastorate was so long an one, as may be supposed, he 
saw many changes in the work. There were seasons of prosperity, 
when much good was done } but there were also seasons of adversity, 
during which such words as the following were entered in the Church 
Book: "All dull and lifeless j** "Lord revive us 3" "Let not our. 
hearts grow quite cold." Every servant of Christ present knows 
what it is to utter such cries. Mr. Wheeler built the house adjoining 
this chapel, intending to occupy it when he became too old to continue 
school work. Death, however, called him away, seemingly all too 



»4 

soon. The Church afterwards purchased the house, and whoever 
happens to be minister occupies it. Mr. Wheeler's naemory is 
cherished by all. Never will he be forgotten here. 

Mr. Lea was asked to follow Mr. Wheeler : he consented^ and 
laboured in this part of the vineyard for eleven years. Whilst he 
was here yonder schoolroom was built at the cost of about £300. 
When he left he was permitted to work for his Master at Weston- 
by-Weedon for a period of nine years or so, and then for a short time 
at Long Crendon, Bucks, from which place he was suddenly called 
to his rest on 31 July, 1876. 

Mr. Parker was the next minister. He served the Church right 
well for the space of eleven years ; he and the people had a mind to 
work. Something like £600 or sSjoo were raised for the enlarge- 
ment of this building j for the purchase of property close at hand, 
and for the re-building of Pitsford Chapel. We are all sorry Mr. 
Parker is not with us to-day. His old friends are ever pleased to 
welcome him into their homes. 

After Mr. Parker resigned, Mr. Phillips was chosen to minister to 
the people. All agree in saying that he was a good man. He did 
not, however, continue here long — between two and three years, 
God speed him in the work he now does. 

During the nine months which followed Mr. Phillips's removal 
the Church was without a minister. At the end of that time the 
Rev. C. H. Spurgeon was requested to send one of his students 
down with a " view to the pastorate." He selected a student who 
could not well be called " Zaccheus 5 " but who has frequently been 
called " A son of Anak.*' This student received and accepted the 
Church's unanimous invitation to the pastorate, and is the present 
pastor. During the four years and a half that I have lived and 
laboured here I have received nothing but kindness. There are about 
120 members in the Church. Unity reigns in our midst. We 
intensely wish that more were anxious about their souls, but firmly 
believe that '' we shall reap if we faint not." Within the past two 
years we have paid oif a debt of ^lyo, and are now striving to pay 
off a similar amount. The debt with which we are now burdened 
was incurred through some most needful alterations in the manse. 
You will, I feel sure, help us to reduce it to-night. One more word 
and I have finished. Of Abel it was said "He being dead, yet 
*speaketh 5 *' of Carey it can be said " He being dead yet speaketh > '" 
and does he not say to us now : Be prayerful 3 Be zealous 3 Be self- 
denying ; Strive after holiness. 

** Expect great 'things from God ; Attempt great things f^r Qod." 



J 



B^ei^.c^K^^ 



^pptn^ijc^ 



N an Article on the Life and Times of Baxter^ in The Christian 
Revi^eWf vol. viii., Boston, 1843, Dr. Williams of New York, 
writing of the Baptists in the Cromwellian Army, says ; — 

** To the Baptist, then, the age of Baxter is a memorahle one. The period 
of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate was the season in which our 
distingoishing sentiments, heretofore the hidden treasures of a few solitary 
confeiBeors, became the property of the people. Through weary years they had 
been held by a few in deep retirement, and at the peril of their lives ; now they 
began rapidly working their way and openly into the masses of society. The 
army that won for Cromwell his 'crowning mercies,' as he called those 
splendid victories which assured the power of the Parliament, became deeply 
iing^ with our views of Christian faith and order* They were not, as military 
bodies have so often been, a band of mercenary hirelings, the sweepings of 
Bocieiy, gleaned from the ale-house and the kennel, or snatched from the jail 
and due to the gallows; but they were composed chiefly of substantial 
yeomanry, men who entered the ranks from principle rather than for gain, and 
whose chief motive for enlistment was that they believed the impending 
contest one for religious truth and for the national liberties, a war in the 
strictest sense pro arts et focis. Clarendon himself allows their superiority in 
morals and character, to the royaliet forces. In this army the officers were 
many of them accustomed to preach ; and both commanders and privates were 
continually busied in searching the Scriptures, in prayers, and in Christian 
conference. The result of the biblical studies and free communings of these 
intrepid, high-principled men was that they became, a large portion of them, 
Baptists. As to their character, the splendid eulogy they won from Milton 
may counterbalance the coarse caricatures of poets and novelists, who saw 
them less closely, and disliked their piety too strongly, to judge dispassionately 
their merits." 



The earliest mention we have of the Baptists in Northamptonshire 
is the Confession of Faith of 1651, which is signed on behalf of 
the Church at Ravensthorpe, by Benjamin Morleyand Francis Stanley^ 
who were Messengers for the General Baptist Churches in North- 
amptonshire and Lincolnshire. This Confession was the first sent out 
by a Baptist Church in the country. The title is as follows : — 

The Faith and PraotlBe of Thirty Congregations, gpathered according to the 
Primitive Pattern. Published (in love) by consent of two from each 
Congregation, appointed for that purpose. London^ 1661 



7.6 

Amongst the Original Letters and Papers of State, Addressed to 
Oliver Cromwell, concerning the Affairs of Great Britain, 164 9-1658, 
in the Collection of John Milton, is one which is signed by Fr. Stanley 
and Rohert Teaslow^ for the Church at Ranstrop. The Letter is 
dated the ist day of the nth months 1651. 



A Religions Census of the Province of Canterbury for the year 
1676, is preserved in the William Salt Library at Stafford. The infor- 
mation contained in the volume is tabulated in four columns — the 
names of Parishes, the number of Conformists, the number of 
Papists, and the number of Nonconformists. We subjoin portions 
of the Census pertaining to Moulton and other places where Baptist 
Churches were formed. 



Buhm of Pariihei. 



Confor- 



Fftpiflti 



ITonoon- 
formiaU. 



Bugby o/uM Badkby 749 

EaatHaddon 360 

Moulton 620 

PiAford 216 

Bavena Thorpe 284 

Spratton 460 



.. 


.. 23 


.. 


.. 18 


.. 


.. 29 


1 .. 


.. 1 


.. 


.. 29 


.. 


.. 16 



In a List of Baptist Meeting Houses, with the Names of the 
Ministers, the Number of the Hearers and Voters, and other 
Particulars, between the years 17 17 and 1729, prepared by Dr. John 
Evans, in MS. in Dr. Williams' Library, are the following entries : — 



PlMM of Meeting. 



WoopsN, Weston 
& BRADwm 

SliAFTOlf 



Baunston, E1.BT- 
Haddon & Loisfa 

BUOKLET 

Waldoravb, Scald- 
well Bbtokwobth 
k Sfbatton 

ISHAM 

' Habbingwobth 
Waldgbavb 



Preaoherf. 



John Britain ) AG 

Philip Cherry / 

Simon Haroonrt ) . 

Austin Taylor f ^ 

John Painter, of Moulton A G 



Punter & Garret 
withothen 



Ibid 

Wm Barker 



Ordained. 



People mixt m 
to Baptiim 



A 


^ 


160 


20 


40 


8 


70 


10 


80 


9 


70 
80 


10 


100 


10 



27 

In the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries the General Baptists 
in Northamptonshire were in a flourishing state. Mr. John Stanger> 
in his Memoirs, says, 

**llieir oongregationB at different places were considered not as distinct 
ehnrobes, bat as one ohnroh only. In my younger years there was constant 
preaching at Monlton, Bnrton Latimer, Buckby, Eilsby, and rery frequently 
at Brawnstone, Bavensthorpe, Spratton, Scaldwell, &c., and it seemed to be a 
point with them that they were all one church. And though most of the 
ministers preached more constantly at those places at or near which they 
resided ; and those who were Pastors more constantly administered the Lord's 
supper there ; yet there was a mutual intercourse, and each of the pastors 
administered the ordinance as occasion required, at the difliarent places where 
it waa attended to." 

We gather from the following entry by Dr. Carey in the 
Monlton Church Book the period of the formation of a Baptist 
Church there. On April 25, 1787, Mr. Adams, of Napton, 
reported respecting Legacies belonging to the Church, viz. : — 

** Mr. Wright of Dayentry left £60. A Soldier supposed to be in Olw0f^s 
Army, left £20 at Buckby. Mr. Bolton of Hartwell left £20. Mr. Gilby of 
Buokby left £20. Mr. Marriott of Buckby left £10, of which £5 is lost and 
Mr. Connel of Old left £20 which make £150 of which £145 remains." 



PAINTER AND STANGER. 
In a large printed sheet of three columns, in verse, entitled, '' An 
Elegy on the much-lamented Death of Mr. John Lee, Minister of 
the Gospel, Who departed this Life, at Spratton, Feb. 8, 174a, in the 
40th Year of his Age," are the following lines : — 

**And pious Fainiir, zealous and sincere, 
A son of consolation he appeared; 
And Stanger, who was solid, grave, and sound, 
With fixed Resolution stood his Ghround; " 



JOHN PAINTER. 
In the Dash Collection at the Northampton Museum is a copy of 
a Sermon by John Brittain,who was minister at Weston-by-Weedon. 

God the Portion of his People : in a Sermon Preached at Moulton, Occasioned 
hy the Death of John Painter, April 16, 1722. By Mr. John Brittain. 

Northampton : FrinUd by JB. Baihe9 and W. Dieey, MDCCXXIV, 



THE STANGERS. 
Interesting biographical reminiscences of the Stanger family are 
given by Groser, dedicated To the Grandchildren of the venerable 
John Stanger, with a portrait. The following is the title : — 

Memoirs of Mr. John Stanger, late Pastor of a Baptist Church, at Bessels 
Green, Kent. By William Groser. London, 1824 



28 

The Titles of the following Pamphlets published by John Stanger 
are taken from the Bibiiotheca Northantonensis by John Taylor. 

An Elegj on the Death of Martin Drayson ; Who departed this Life, Septem- 
ber 12, 1773 : aged 21 Years, oontaining some Account of his Gonrersioxiy 
and religions Experience. SevMoaks, 1774 

Free Access to Gh>d by a Mediator. A Sermon, Preached at Bessels G-reen, 
near Seyenoaks, in Kent : By John Stanobr. Sevenoaks, 1785 

The Doctrine of Uniyersal Restoration, Considered as Unsoriptural. Addressed to 
some Christian Friends. By John Stanqeb. SevenoaJbs, 1789 

A Short View of the Doctrine of the iMnity, as stated in the Scriptures ; In 
a Letter to a JBtiend, by John Stanqeb. Sevenoaks, 1791 

A Charge, Delivered at the Ordination of Mr. John Rogers^ at Eynsford, in Kent> 
September 29, 1802, by Joseph Jenkins, D.D. Together with a Sermon to the 
Church, by James Upton ; an Introductory Discourse, by John Stanqeb, and 
Mr. Rogers's Confession of Faith. Published at the Request of the Church and 
Congregation. London, 1802 

The Ciroular Letter from the Ministers and Messengers of the several Baptist 
Churches composing the Kent and Sussex Association ; Assembled at Lewes, 
June 4 & 5, 1822. 

GEORGE EVANS. 
George Baker^ in his History of Northamptonshire, vol. i. p. 5 1, 
writing of Moulton, says, 

"A Particular or Galvinistic Baptist Congregation has been established 
here several years. Mr. George Evans, who died in 1757, and for whom Ihere 
is a monument in St. Peter's Church, Northampton, officiated here till his death." 

The following Inscription on the Tablet is taken from a MS, 
copy by William Sibley, Parish Clerk, 1880. 

"Mr. George Evans. 
Died January 10th 1757. Aged 54. 
If real worth demand the friendly tear 
How great the Theme of real sorrow here. 
Unwearied diligence to Life's last day 
A faithful Hes^, that never wished to stray. 
Truth rarely found, and probity of Soul 
Beyond the power of Intrest to controid. 
Have ever challenged high respect and praise 
Or from the Sculptors art, or Poet's lays. 
Spare then ye Proud tV empassion'd Wife to blame 
Who rears this Trophy to her Husbands Fame. 
Exalted Virtue, such as his might be 
Sufficient Motive to adore in me." 

In the Northampton Mercury of Monday, January 17, 1757, is 
the following Obituary Notice of Mr. Evans : — 

" On Sunday last |fr. Evans, an eminent Wholesale Shoemaker in this 
Town, was seized with the Dead Palsy on the Koad in his Ketnm from 
Moulton ; to which Place his Horse (not being able to guide him) carried him 
back, where he died on Monday Night. ^' 



29 



MEMBERS OF COLLEGE LANE CHURCH, NORTHAMPTON, 

Resident at Moulton and Pitsford. 
Mbn. 



Name. 


Abode. 


Time. 


Bemoiral. 


John Underwood 


.. 


of Pisf ord . . . . 


May 7, 1761 


Died 29th June 1801 


Jos. Ayre , . 




of Moulton 


Aug. 6, 1761 


caU'd out— dismissed to 
Warwick — prored a 


[Schoolmaster] 
















wretched Antinomian 


Tho«. Wood 




Pisford. N. .. 
Pisford .. .. 
Moulton . . ; . 


May 6, 1763 
May. 5. 1768 
Aug. 6. 1767 


dead 


Will. Fnnllmor* 


exoom. 


John Chown jnn'' 


B 


excluded Feby 8 — 1799 


£dwaidFeTers .. •• 


B 


Moulton , . . . 


May 6, 1776 


dead Feb. 1792 


John Chown sen', t . . 


, , 


Moulton . . • . 


May 9, 1778 


died 1784 


Edward Sbarman 


B 


Cottesbrooke . . 


July 18, 1779 


dis. Sept. 2. 1781 to 
Guilsbro" 


ThoB. Bnrridge , , 






Nov. 7, 1783 


DifiTnififlAd in. And nr« 








dained orer the people 










at Moulton near Nor- 




















1802 


John Richards . . , , 


B 


Moulton . . . . 


Mar. 11, 1785 


excluded 


Francis Wheeler J . . 


, , 


Northampton . . 


Mar. 8, 1812 


Dismissed to Moulton to 


called to the Ministry 






be their Pastor 


& sent to Bristol Academy ' 






WOME 


»• 


Sarah Faulkner .. .. 




of Pisford 
now Boughtoia 


Aug. 21. 1748 


distracted dead 






^AAip V A %m^0 ^rs^^^ ^^^^r«^-*™ 


Mary Underwood 


', • 


Pisford 


May 7, 1761 


dead 


Anne Biokeno now Chown 


Moulton 


Aug. 6, 1761 


dead 


Hary Ball now Camp 


B 


Pisford Brampton 


Sep. 10, 1761 


Dead . . ^ 


Mary Smith . . . . 


B 


of Holoutt, 


May 11, 1764 


dis. & since dead 


marry'd Revd Stangar of 


Bessels Green 




May 1776 


Bessels Green Kent 








, 


MaryRichards .. .. 


^^ 


Moulton 


Sep. 11, 1772 


dead 1786 


Olare Lucas . . . . 


B 


Moulton 


Ap. 9, 1773 


died Oct. 80 


Sarah Chown, Murden 


B 


Moulton 


May 6, 1774 


died Octt»r 20 1816 




B 


Cottesbrooke 
by Letter fm 
Castle Hill 


July 18, 1777 


dis. to Guilsboro* [1782] 
[Deed. 1796] 


Margarett Wood 


B 


Moulton Park .. 


9 Aug«t. 1801 


from Broad mead Bristol 


once Campion 








by letter 



* Last Septr a Persecutor but awakened by Diyine Grace ye week before Xmas Bay 
at midnight and called to Christ Jesus effectually. 

t Keceiyed as a Member of our Church by Virtue of a Dismission from the Church at 
Wellingborough under the Care of Mr. Canrer. 
X Called out to preach Novr. 24, 1812. 



1771. 


June 12. 


Soloutt. 


1772. 


June 19. 


Moulion** 


1772. 


Oot. 1. 


Holoatt. 



30 

The following notices of Texts and Times of Preaching by Dr. 
Ryland, of College Lane, Northampton, are extracted from hi&Text 
Book:— 

1771. Hay 28. Monlion. Hio. iy. 6. In that day saith the Ld. I will 

assemble her that halteth and I will gather 

her, &o. 
Hab. ii. 4. Behold his Soul, woh ia lifted up is not 

upright in him : but the just shall live by faith. 
Isai. xxziii. 17. Thine Eye shall see the King in 

his Beauty : they shall behold the Land, &c. 
Fs. orviiL 27. God is the Lord, whioh hath shewed 

us light ; bind the saorifioe with Oozds, OTsa 

unto the horns of the Altar. 

1772. KoT. 12. Moulton. Qm. Bapt. Meetg. lisaL xlii. 12, 13. Hearken 

unto me ye stout hearted that are far f^ 

Bigheousness. I bring near my, &c. 
1778. Oot. 21. M 0$n. Bapt. meetg. Acts xyii. 20. For thou 

bringest certain strange things to our Ears. 
1774. July 19. „ Job xzxiii. 29, 30 Lo these things worketh God 

oftentimes with Man, to bring back his Soul 

iJ^ the Pit, to be, &c. 
1774. Oot. 13. „ Isai. xliii. 26, 26 I, eren I am he that Uotteth 

out thy transgressions for mine own sake & 

will not, &o. 

1774. Nor. 9. Fisford. Isai. xii. 1. And in that day thou shalt say O 

Lord I will praise thee : tho thou was, &o. 

1775. Hay 10. Moulton. Fs, zl. 2. He brought me up also out of an 

horrible pit, out of the miry Olay, &o. 

1775. May 21. Boughton. Heb. viii. 12. I will be meroiful to their un- 
righteousness k their sins and their Iniqui- 
ties I will remember no more. 

1775. May 31. Moulton. Gen. iv. 10. What hast thou done P 

1775. KoT. 23. „ 1 Thess. y. 10. Who died for us that whether 

we wake or sleep, we sh^ lire together w^ him. 

1776. Ap. 7. „ At Fevers, Titus ii. 11, 12. For the Grace of God 

that bringeth Salyation hath appeared, &o. 
1776. May 19. „ I Sam. ii. 8. He raiseth up the poor out of the 

dust, k lifteth up the beggar, &o. 
1776. May 19. Boughton. John i. 36, 37. And look? upon Jesus as he 

walked, he saith Behold the Lamb of God, ko, 
1776. Aug. 11. Moulton. Fs. bdx, 4. Then restored I that whioh I took 

not away. 
1776. Sept. 8. „ Hos. ziy. 2 Take wth you Words k turn unto 

the Lord say unto him Take away, &o. 
1776. Sep. 22. Boughton. Fs. cxlv. 11. They shall speak of the Glory of 

thy Kingdom & talk of thy power. 
1776. Not. 12. Moulton My soul shall be satisfy' d as w^ marrow k 

fatness ; k my mouth shall praise, &o. 



1777. 


Mar. 


2. 


1777. 


Oct. 


19. 


1778. 


Aug. 


16. 


1779. 


Mar. 


21. 



31 

Monlton. Ftoy. xix. 3. The foolishneBS of Man perverteth 
his way : & his heart fretteth ag^. the Lord. 

,, Eph. li. 8. For by Grace are ye sayed, thro 

Faith k that not of jonrselTOB ; &c. 

„ John xiz. 5. Behold the Man ! 

„ Gen. Bapt. Meeting Ezod. XT. 11. Who is like 

onto thee, O Lord among the Oods P who is 
like nnto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in 
praises, doing wonders P 

1779. Sept. 2. „ Isa. xL 10. The Lord God shall come with a 

strong hand, & his Arm shall rule for him, Ac. 

1780. July 4. „ Gal. i. 15. God called me by his Grace. 

1781. Ap. 22. „ Bey. yi. 17. For the great day of his wrath is 

come k who shall be able to stand P 
1781. May 30. „ Acts ziii. 38, 39 Thro this man is preached unto 

you the Forgiyeness of Sins k by him all 

that belieye, &o. 
„ Ps. oy. 3. Let the heart of them rejoice that seek 

the Lord. 
,, Heb. ii. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect 

so great Salyation P 
,y Hos. ziii. 9. O Israel thou hast destroy* d thy- 

self but in me is thy help. 
„ Jonah i. 6. What meanest thou sleeper P Rise 

call upon thy God, if so be, ko. 
„ 2 Tim. i. 7. For Gbd hath not giyen us the 

Spirit of Fear, but of Power k of Loye, ftc. 
„ Isa. liii. 1. Who hath belieyed our BeportP 

k to whom is the Arm of the Lord reyealed. 
„ Hosea ziy. 1, 2, 3. O Israel return unto Jehoyah 

thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine 

Iniquity. Take w*l» you, &c. 
,, Psalm iy. 2. O ye Sons of Men how long will 

ye turn my Glory into Shame, ko, 
„ Isaiah zlyi. 12, 13. Hearken unto me ye stout 

hearted, & f ar fm righeousn*, I bring near my 

Right*, ftc. 
,, Galat. iii. 28. — for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 

„ Dau iz. — cause thy face to shme upon thy 

sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's sake. 
„ IsaL ly. 12, 13. For ye shall go forth wtb Joy k 

be led on w^ peace, the mountains and hUls, &c. 
„ Gal. ii. 19. For I thro the Law, am dead to the 

Law, that I might liye unto Gk>d. 
„ Fun^. for Feavere, Matth. zzy. 34. Then shall 

the K. say unto them on his right hand Gome 

ye blessed, &o. 
1815. May 14. Pisford. Acts zy. 14. 



1781. 


Oct. 28. 


1782. 


May 21. 


1782. 


Sept. 15. 


1783. 


April 10. 


1784. 


May 30. 


1784. 


Aug. 22. 


1785. 


Mar. 29. 


1785. 


May 15. 


1786. 


Feb. 8. 


1787. 


Mar. 28. 


1789. 


May 12. 


1790. 


29 June 


1791. 


Sept. 13. 


1792 


Feb. 12. 



3a 

WILLIAM CAREY. 

Extracts from the Moulton Church Book relating to the Pastorate 
of Dr. Carey. 

Mr. Oarej oame to Moulton Lady Day 1786 and left at Midsummer 
1 789 « H years. Was at Leioester 3f years. 

1786. Nov. 2. Agreed unlTersally to Call onr Minister Mr. Carey to the 
Office of Pastor, which was accordingly done— and Consented to on his Part. 

1787. Feb. 1. Mr. Carey agreed to accept our Call to the Pastoral Office. 

May 3. At our Church meeting our Brother Wm. Carey was receiyed by 
a letter of Dismission from the Baptist Church at Olney, in the Double 
Character of a Member and Minister and his Ordination was Settled or 
appointed to be on Wednesday Aug. 1 agreed that Mr. Byland Jun** shall 
ask the Questions Mr. Sutcliff preach the Charge Mr. Fuller to the People. 

Aug. 2. Our Brother Wm. Carey having been yesterday ordained our 
Elder or Pastor we agreed to administer & receive the Lords supper next 
Lord's Day. 

Oct. 4. Dinah Padmore, Dorothy Carey and John Padmore were received 
into our Communion and on Lords Day foil?. Baptiz'd. 

1789. Apl. 2. Our Beloved Pastor who had been in Considerable straits 
for want of Maintenance informed us that the Church at Leicester had given 
him an invitation to make trial with them, on which account we appointed to 
meet every Monday Evening for Prayer on that affair. 

May 7. Our Pastor informed us that he had accepted the Call to 
Leioester. 



Extract from a Letter from Dr. Carey to Mr. John Stanger, who 
was then Pastor of the Baptist Church at Bessels Green. 

^'Moulton, Feb, 13, 1787. 

** You desire that I would write an account of everything that is worth 
writing, respecting the state of affairs at Moulton. I think I wrote you word 
that we had begun a gospel discipline in the church. Through the g^ood hand 
of our God upon us I trust that it has been useful ; and our people, who knew 
little or nothing of its utility, begin to see both its necessity, propriety, and 
usefulness. Seven have been added to the church, and affairs seem in a 
desirable train. The church and congregation have joined in. inviting me to 
take upon me the pastoral office. I have not the least objection, except for 
fear about temporal supplies. Yet, after prayer to Cod, and advising with 
neighbouring ministers, I am disposed to trust those things in the hand of 
God, who has helped me hitherto ; and have accordingly signified my assent 
to the church. Probably an ordination may take place in the spring, of which 
I will give you intelligence. Tour sister Rogers has just been at Moulton. 
Your relations are well ; (except your brother Bobinson's family, which has 
been long afflicted). They would join in love did they know of my writing. 

I am, cordially yours, 

W. Cabby." 



33 

At the Baptist Mission House, London^ is the Communion Cup 
used by Dr. Carey, to which is affixed the following label : — 

'* This cup is the one used by Br. Carey at the Lord's Table when he ^as 
pastor of the Baptist Church, Moulton, Northamptonshire, a.d. 1789. It was 
giyen to my Father (Bey. Francis Wheeler) in 1820 by Mr. William Doye one 
of the deacons of the Chnrch at Moolton, and the father of the late Mrs. 

Richard Harris of Leicester My Mother now presents it to the 

Mnsenm of the Baptist Missionary Society. 

"May 31st, 1880. (Signed) Thos. A. Wheeler, Norwich." 

Copy of Inscription on Tablet in Moulton Chapsl : — 

This Tablet 

is erected in memory of 

the illustrious 

Wm. Cabst, D.D.— 

who was 

the honoured founder of 

this Place of Worship. 

and who for four years was 

the Deyoted Pastor of this Church. 

He afterwards 

became the EyaDgelist of India, 

Professor of Sanscrit 

in the College of Fort William, 

and the Father of 

Modem Missions. 

He died at Serampore June 9th 1834 

Aged 72 years. 



EDWARD SHARMAN. 

Extract from College Lane Church Book, 

Lord's Day, Sept. 2. [1781] .... Granted & sign'd a Dismission to 
three Brethren, viz. Will. Pell and Andrew his brother both of Guilsbro' 
& Edward Sharman of Cottesbrook in order to their forming a new Church at 
Gmlsbro'— a Copy of which follows : 

We the Church of Christ assembling for religious Worship in College 
Lane Northampton uxider the pastoral Care of the Kevd. J. Byland'sen' & 
J. Byland jun'. rejoicing in the Increase of our dear Bedeemer's Kingdom & 
hearing with great Pleasure of the Work he has begun & is carrying on at 
Guilsboro* in this County have considered of the Bequest of our Brethren 
William Fell and Andrew Fell of Guilsbro* & Edward ^Sharman of Cottesbrooke, 
that we wou*d dismiss them from our Communion in order to the laying a 
foundation for a new Church to be formed, who are to meet in the Meeting- 
house newly erected at Guilsboro', there being a prospect of several others who 
ajypear to be called by divine Grace joining with them in Church fellowship, 
and a multitude of precious Souls disposed to assemble with them to he&r the 
divine Word;'and judging this request to be reasonable and to have a 
probable Tendency of advancing the divine Glory and the Kingdom of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, we give them up to the Lord & to each other according to 
his Will ; hereby declaring that whenever they do in the presence of Christ, 



34 

m^mimij oovenftnt & agree to walk together, as a Church of Christ, in the 
Faith & Order of the Gospel, & formally and actually take upon them such a 
Relation to Christ & each other : then their Membership here ceases, & we 
shall look upon them k such as may join w^. them in those solemn Engage- 
ments as constituting a seperate and distinct Sister Church, independant of us, 
tho* we hope, oyer to be connected with us in mutual AflEection, to whom 'we 
wou'd wish Prosperity in the Name of the Lord. 

John KTULin) sen' Ben j . Freeman John Manning 

-^. , _ , , JoHNRYiiANDJunJ" Tubalcaiu Mellows Thos. Tilley 

T^i. u * ;^ \^ Wm. Cooper W^. Ager Benj. Evans 

behalf of the whole j^ggph Dent Cha. Fitzhugh Tho. Vaughan 

Church at our Church mi, - rn^ j mv « t> mv nr i 

fl 4. o TTQi Thos. Tnnder Thos. Berry Tho. Wykes 

meetmg »ept. 2. X781. ^^ Copeland John Copeland Wm Brown. 

Reuben Archer 
Extracts from Moulton Church Booh, 

1789. May 7. Our Pastor [Dr. Carey] informed us that he had accepted 
the Call to Leicester, on which report we agreed to apply to the Rev^ Mr. 
Sharman, of Cottesbrook, which was done in a Day or two and he accepted the 
CaU. 

[179-.] December 4. At our church meeting it was purposed to give Mr. 
Sharman a call to the office of paster amongst us. 

Apl. 1. 1795. At our Church Meeting Whe Agreed to send one of our 
Members to Clipston to the Ministers Meeting for Advice on Account of our 
Ministers Deinieng the Godhead of Christ. 

In the Taylor Collection at the Northampton Museum are copies 
of the following Panaphlets, published by Edward Sharman: — 

A Letter on the Doctrine of the Trinity ; addressed to the Baptist Society, at 
Guilsborough, Northamptonshire. London, 1795 

A Second Letter on the Doctrine of the Trinity; addressed to the Baptist 
Society, at Guilsborough, Northamptonshire. Market-Eccrborough, 1796 

A Caution against Trinitarianism : or, an Inquiry whether those who now 
follow the example of the Ancient Fathers, by invoking Gt)d's servant the 
Messiah as Supreme Deity, are the only True Worshippers of the one 
Almighty God revealed in the Bible; or do not deserve the name of 
idolaters : In Five Letters Addressed to the Reverend Mr. Davis, Wigston, 
Leicestershire ; containing some Remarks upon his late Publication, stiled 
'* A Caution against Socinianism, &o." By a Noi'thamptonshire Farmer. 

Market Harboroughy 1799 

A Second Caution against Trinitarianism ; or, an Inquiry whether that System 
has not some Tendency to lead People unto Deism and Atheism. In a 
Letter Addressed to the Rev. Mr. Fuller, Kettering. By a Northampton- 
shire Farmer. Market-Harborotyhy 1800 

In The Baptist Annual Begisterf edited by Dr. Rippon^ Edward Sharman 
appears as the minister for Moulton in the year 1794. 

In the List of Members of the Guilsborough Church Richard Nichols is 
entered, with a Note *< Cat of for denieng the divinity of Christ," from whidi 
we oonolade he was a follower of Mr. Sharman. 



THOMAS BURRIDGE. 

Extracts from College Lane Chureh Booh. 
SViday Nov. 7, 1783. The Church meeting was held in the Evening when 

four young Men viz Thos. Burridge first struck with Conviction hy the 

Conversation of the Parish Clark at Quinton all gave a satisfactory 

Acct. of their Experience & were unanimously received into the Church. 

fViday PebJ 9th 1798 Consent was given to Brother Thos. Berrige to have 
liibberty to go and Preach in the Villages and to supply Churches Oocasionally 
as the Providences of God may call him to. 

Extracts from MouUon Church Book. 
1802. April 13. Our Brother Mr. Thos. Berridge was ordaind Pastor we 
agreed to adminster and receive the Lords Supper the next Lords day. 

Anno Domini 1817. Mr. Thos. Berridge after preaching the Gospel to us 
for 16 years did of his own accord resign the pastoral office. . . During 
his ministry a Vestry and Gallary were built and a Sabbath School established. 
We cherish a cordial esteem for his gratuitous and zealous labours among 
UB for so long a period and trust he will from among us meet with many who 
will be his crown of rejoicing at the great day. Mr. Berridge after he had 
resignd his office as our Pastor recommended to us a young Minister who had 
lately left the Acadmy at Bristol, of the name of Wheeler. 



FRANCIS WHEELER. 

Extract from the Moulton Church Book, 
Sept 2. 1863. Died the Rev. Francis Wheeler 35 years a faithful Minister 
of" the Gospel of Christ at Moulton, much beloved by the Church and Congre- 
gation and highly respected by all who knew him. His labours were continued 
until the Sabbath preceding his death when he administered the Lord's Supper 
and on the following Thursday fell asleep ^ was gathered to his fathers. 

Copy of Inscription on the Tablet in Moulton chapel : — 

Sacred to the Memory of the Rev. F. Wheeler 

who for 35 years faithfully preached Xt and Him crucified 

to the Church and congregation in this place, strong thought 

and earnest spirit & a forcible style, gave continuous 

interest and power to his Ministry while a transparent 

piety showed itself in all his life ; the record of his 

usefulness is in many hearts, and his worth which 

won the esteem of many, while he lived still renders 

his memory blessed. 

He was bom at Little Compton, Gloucestershire 
Jan 11, 1788, & died at Moulton 22 Sept 1853 

" Them that sleep in Jesus will Grod bring with Him." 

A bereaved Church & Congregation erect this tablet to his xnemory. 

A Biographical Notice of Mr. Wheeler appears in the Baptist 
Manual for 18^4. 



36 

JOSEPH LEA. 

Extract from the Moulton Church Book. 
Hr. Joseph Lea, late Pastor at KisUngbury received the nnammons Gall 
of this Chnroh to the Pastorate in Hay 1854 Having signified his acceptance 
of the same he oommenoed his stated labours on Lord's day July 2°^ in the 
same year. 

Iq the Baptist Handbook for 1877 appears a Biographical Memoir 
of Mr. Lea. During his Ministry at Weston-by-Weedon he wrote a 
history of the Church, bearing the following title : — 

Historical Sketch of the Baptist Church at Weston-by-Weedon. With 
particulars of its connection with the Churches at Towcester, Middleton 
Cheney, Stony Stratford, and others. Compiled from the Original Church 
Book of 1681. By the Bev. Joseph Lba, Pastor of the Church. 

Northampton^ 1868 



From the '* Breviates" of the Northamptonshire Association we 
learn that at the Meeting at Leicester, May 29, 30 and 31, 1787, a 
Letter was received from the Church at Moulton, requesting 
admission into the Association " which was chearfully granted." The 
Association Meeting was held at Moulton in the year 1837, ^hen 
the subject of the Circular Letter was *' Scriptural means of Religious 
Revival ; ** the writer Rev. George Jayne, of Roade. And again in the 
year 1885 J ^^® subject of the Circular Letter being *' Our Life : some 
Present Dangers," by Rev. W. Fidler, of Towcester. 

An Account of the Baptist Church at Moulton is given in 
A Sketch of the Religions History of Northamptonshire, with an Account of 
some of the Baptist Churches in the County. Northampton, 1871 

Many particulars relating to the Baptists at Moulton will be 
found ^in 
The Baptists and Quakers in Northamptonshire, 1650-1700. By Eev. J. 

Jackson Goadby« Northampton, 1882 



SION OF MINISTERS AT 


MO 


William Carey 


1785 — 


1789 


Edward Sharman ... 


1789 — 


1795 


Thomas Burridge ... 


1802 — 


.817 


Francis Wheeler ... 


1818 — 


1853 


Joseph Lea 


i8j4 — 


ib6s 


John R. Parker ... 


1867 — 


1877 


George Phillips 


1879 — 


1881 


W, A. Wicks 


iSSa — 





[XIV.] 
^iogiaffl^al ^otitis. 



The Wallis Family of Kettering. 

PF William Wallis the founder of the first Baptist Church at 
Xettering very little is known. He came to Kettering from 
Essex, and in 1696 we find him a ruling elder of the Indepen- 
dent Church there, formed in 1662 by the Eev. John Maidwell, 
M.A., who seceded from the Established Church. This Independent 
Church records in its Church books, under date October 29th, 1696 : 

" Mr. W°* Wallis formerly a Euling Elder in this Church taking 
upon Him to be an Administrat' of Baptisme to some of y« Mem- 
bers of this Church, ag** whome it was prov'd in a Church Assembly 
y* He had no Bight <& power so to do, desir'd his Dismission, w*** 
was Granted Him, <& accordingly He was dismissed fro being an 
Elder & Member in this Church of Christ. Samuell Brigstock, 
Sarah Billing, John Wyman, & Mary Wyman, Anthony Oraves & 
Jane his wife. All of them being Anabaptists & deserting y^* 
Ministry and Comunion of the church, in Adherence to W"* Wallis, 
the Church declared They were no more under its Care & watch, 
bat had removed: themselves by their own causeless relinquishing y*" 
Church." 

This litttle body of primitive Baptists formed a Church, chose 
Mr. Wallis their pastor, and met together for worship in a 
small house in Bayley's yard, N ewland street, Kettering. Apparently, 
for documentary evidence is very scant, William Wallis continued 
to preach to this new church for many years. It is recorded that 
in 1709 a sermon he preached from the words '* Adam, where art 
thou ? " resulted in the conversion of the able and learned Dr. 
John Gill, who used to speak of the founder of the Baptist Church 
at Kettering as his ghostly or spiritual fether. Mr. Fredk. Wm. 
Bull puts the date of Mr. Wallis' death at 1715 or 1716. It is 
said his funeral sermon was preached in the Independent Church. 
He was succeeded in the pastorate of Bayley's Yard Church by his 
son Thomas Wallis who, bom in 1679, was about 37 when he took 
to the office. His wife, Mary Belsher, was a member of the 
original Nonconformist congregation, the Independents, and after 
her marriage, continued to attend the Independent place of worship, 



2 

whilst her husband preached in Bayley's yard. As a natural conse- 
quence, some of the children attended the church of their father and 
some that of their mother ; and thus arose the division of the family 
into Baptist and Independents or Congregationalists, a feature that 
continued through the next three generatioms. The Rev. Thomas 
"Wallis continued to minister to his church until his death on 
December 16th, 1726. 

Previous to the decease of "William Wallis, there was a second 
secession, in 1713, from the Independent Church. The pastor, the 
Eev. John AVills, left and with him thirty or forty members, 
including two elders and two deacons. They set up a Church that 
worshipped in Goosepasture lane. Gradually its members became 
more and more Baptist in principle, so much so that in 1729 the 
old Baptist Church of the Wallises united with it. The Eev. 
Robert Hanwell (or Hennell), the new pastor chosen just at this 
time, writing in the Church book 

AU BefoT this We haue nothing to dow with 

Bat what foUows in the foUowing Fart of the Booke. 

^ Thomas Wallis had eight children. The eldest, William, was 
the father of Mr. Beeby Wallis, and to this branch of the 
family we shall return. Mary, the eldest daughter, bom in 1704, 
died unmarried. Thomas, born in 1705 and died in 1771, was a 
dyer. He married Ann Clarke, and their daughter Elizabeth 
married a Law, of whom several descendants are living. Thomas 
was an Independent. John, born in 1708, on the contrary was a 
Baptist. His great-grandson James, bom in 1793, was a man of 
some note. After joining the Baptist Church at Kettering, he 
went to Leicester in order to avoid entering the army. He became 
member of Harvey Lane Church under the ministry of Eobert 
Hall. Prom Leicester he went to Nottingham, where he joined 
the Baptist Church in George's street and frequently preached 
in the surrounding villages. In 1836 he, with several others, 
"met as a Church of Christ to plead for an unqualified return 
to the faith and order of the Church as established by Christ 
and his Apostles." In 1837 this Church numbered 97 mem- 
bers, "In this great work, James Wallis had taken a leading 
and active part. This Church was truly a New Testament 
Church, not in name only but also in practice ; for from them 
sounded out the Word of Truth to such an extent that soon a 
number of Churches of the same faith and order were planted in 
the neighbourhood of Nottingham." In 1837 James Wallis 
commenced publishing as "a work of faith and a labour of love** 



3 

the Christian Messenger and B&former, afterwards the British 
Millennial Harbinger, He died on May 17lh, 1867. 

Samuel, the fourfch son of Thomas Wallis, was born in 1709. 
lie remained of hia mother's faith, and became not only deacon of 
the Independeut Church, but was the father and grandfather of 
Independent Church deacons. Hannab, the second daughter, 
married Joseph Walker, junior, and died in 1772 leaving issue. 
She was a Baptist. The next born, Joseph, born in 1712, was a 
Baptist. Two of his sons, Joseph and Samuel, became Baptist 
deacons, as did Samuers son George and his grandson Samuel. 
Joseph and Samuel Wallis, the brothers, signed the Letter from the 
Church to the Association in 1775 and for many subsequent 
years. Sarah, the youngest of the children of Thomas Wallis was 
the mother of a Bev. John Gill. 

To revert to William Wallis, the eldest son of Thomas Wallis the 
second pastor o\ the Baptist Church at Kettering. Born in 1702, 
early in life he married a Miss Beeby. He died October 12th, 
1757, in the 55th year of his age. The funeral sermon was 
published with the following title : — 

The Love of God inseparable from his people. A Sermon Preached at 
the Interment of Mr. Williah Wallis, at Kettering, in Northamp- 
tonshire. Who died October the 12th, 1757, in the Fifth-fifth Year 
of his Age. By John Brown. 
LovDOir : Printed for the Author, and sold by George Keith, at the Bible and Crown, in 
Graceoharoh-Street. icdccltiix. Octavo. 84 pages. 

At the end there is a short biographical account. 

Their eldest son was named after his mother, and became Mr. 
Beeby Wallis the best known of all the descendants of the 
founder of the Church. Mr. Beeby Wallis was for 24 years deacon 
of the Baptist Church, being appointed with Thomas Benfoid on 
October 27th, 1768, and retaining the office till his death. His 
signature is appended for several years to the Letter for the 
Association, and he was several times a messenger to the Asso- 
ciation. His name also appears to 

The Covenant & hrief Confession of the Faith & Practice of the Choroh 
of Christ nnder the pastoral care of John Brown Meetting in 
Kettering in the County of Northampton 

Signed John Brown Pastor 

Joseph Timms De»con 
Beeby Wallis 

He was a very kind friend to the Eev. Bobert Hall, then a weakly 
youths and at his recommendation Hall was sent to the Bev. John 
Byland, who at that time conducted a large and respectable 



seminary afc NorthamptoD. Boberfc Hall afterwards remarked of 
Beeby Wallis that " probity, candour, and benevolence, constituted 
the family likeness.*' He died on April 2nd, 1792. The following 
is taken from Dr. £ippon*s Baptist Annual BegUter : — 

'' So far as education and parental example could influence, our 
deceased friend might be said to have known the Holy Scriptures 
from a child. His family, for generations past, ha?e walked in tke 

ways of piety From his earliest years he was under 

strong convictions of the truth and importance of religion ; but the 
most remarkable impression of this sort was made at the death of 
his father. It was then, as he said, that he went and prayed to 
God, and thought within himself, ' O that I had but an interest in 
Christ ! and felt all the world, and all its enjoyments, to be mere 
vanity without it.' 

'' At the time of his father's death, he had a brother, Mr. Joseph 
Wallis, about twelve years of age. The amiable piety of that 
young man is said to have appeared at an early period, but to the 
great grief of his friends, especially of his brother, be was carried 
off by the small-pox, in the nineteenth year of his age. 

" In the year 1763, at the age of twenty-eight, Mr. Wallis became 
a member of the same Christian community in which his prede- 
cessors had lived and died. About five years after, he was chosen 
to the office of a deacon ; an office which he filled with honour and 
satisfaction for twenty-four years. It was a great blessing to the 
Church, especially when, for the space of five years, they were 
destitute of a minister, that he was invested with this office, and 
was then iu the prime of life, and usefulness. It will long be 
remembered with what meekness of wisdom he presided in the 
Church during that uncomfortable interval ; and how, notwith- 
standing all the disadvantages of such a situation, they were not 
only preserved in peace, but gradually increased, till a minister was 
settled amongst them. 

" Ood endued him with a sound understanding, and a solid judg- 
ment. His knowledge was extensive, and his observations on men 
and things, ripened by long experience, were just and accurate. He 
had a quick sense of right and wrong, of propriety and impropriety, 
which rendered his counsel of great esteem in cases of difficulty. 
To this was added a spirit of activitif. Though during the greater 
part of his life he was out of trade, yet his head and hands were 
always full with the concerns of others, either those of private 
individuals, with which he was entrusted, or matters of public 
utility. He would rise by five in the morning in summer. And be as 



diligent all th« day as if he had had his bread to obtaia hj the 
sweat of his brow. 

'' But perhaps one of the most prominent features of his character 
was sincerity/, or integrity of heart. This was a temper of mind that 
ran through all his concerns. Tbe true secret bj which he obtained 
esteem was an unaffected modesty^ mingled with kindness and 
goodness. 

*' He possessed a peculiar dedsivenest of Character. His judg- 
ment was generally formed with slow deliberation; but having 
once made up his mind, it was not easily altered. He was decisive 
in the principles he embraced ; he held noue of them with a 
loose hand. Tbere are few men that have possessed a greater 
degree of genuine humility. To this may be added^ there was a 
vein of serious godliness that ran through his life. 

** After a long series of affliction, which he bore with great 
patience, calmness, and resignation to God, he fell asleep, on April 
2nd, 1792. His funeral sermon, on Kev. xiv. 13, was preached by 
the Hev. Mr. Andrew Fuller^ in the Independent Meeting-house, at 
Kettering, as the Baptist Meeting-house v^as considered too small to 
contain the great number of people who attended on the occasion." 
The sermon was afterwards published as follows : — 
The Blessedness of the Bead, who die in the Lord. A Sermon delivered 
at Kettering, in Northamptonshire, at the Funeral of Mr. Bjbsbt 
Walmb, who departed this Life April 2d, 1792. Published at the 
Bequest of the Ghuroh, and the Relations of the Deceased. Bjr 
Andrew Fuller. 
Bold by Billy, in the Poultry; Matthews, Strand; Ash. Little Tower-Street; and 
Gardiner, Frince'a-Street, Oxford-Street, London : CoUis, Kettering ; and Birdsall* 
Northampton. x,]>co,zcii. Oc^fttw. 26 pages. 

Beeby Wallis left a devoted wife (Martha Belsher), but no 
children. Mrs. Beeby Wallis will ever be knowQ ia the annals of 
the Baptist Church as the hostess of the oft-mentioned thirteen 
who made the first Missionary collection at her house on October 
2nd, 1792. She survived her husband 20 yeari«, dying in 1812 at 
a ripe old age^ and to the regret of an immense circle of friends. 

We have the following contributions to the Society's funds : 

1792-3. Mrs. Beeby Wallis .... 

1794-1812. AnnufiJ Subscriptions, £2 28. per year . 
1805. For the Translations. .... 

1811. Do. 

1812. Do. 

„ For the loss by Fire at Serampore 

1815. Legacy on account of Mrs. Beeby Walli^ by Mr. 

Satchell . . . . . . 255 a 



£ 


s. 


d. 


d 


3 





37 


18 





10 








10 








10 








%0 









^Ir. F. W. Bull in his History of Kettering Bays that " Mrs. 
Beebj Wall is bj her will left to certain trustees the sum of £400 
upon trust that they should put it out at interest and out of the 
income therof pay the minister of the Kettering Baptist congre- 
gation for the time being the yearly sUm of £2 IDs. for preaching 
the gospel occasionally in the neighbouring villages. Lay out in 
bibles and hymn-books to be distributed among the poor of the 
congregation in such manner as the minister and deacons for the 
time being thought fit^ the like further yearly sum of £2 10s. 
Distribute among the poor of the said congregation in such manner 
as the said minister and deacons shall think fit^ the yearly sum of 
£5. Lay out in the repairing of the Meeting House and Minister *s 
dwelling-house and in the insuring of the same from fire the yearly 
sum of £4 lOd. And upon further trust to pay to the said minister 
for the time being of the said congregation the residue of the 
interest or dividends of the said sum of £400 which shall remain 
after deducting the several yearly sums of £2 10s., £2 10., and £5 
and £4 10s. aforesaid as the last half-year's interest or dividends 
should be received. The present income from this charity is 
£11 19s., the principal money being invested in 2i per cent. 
Consols." 

On the tomb in Fuller Baptist Chapel grave-yard is engraved 
the following : 

Sacred to the Memory of 

Mr Beebt Wallib, 

Twenty four Years a Deacon of this Church ; 

Of which his Great Grand-father was the First, 

And his Grand-father the Second Pastor, 

After a life devoted to honour and usefulness. 

And a long Affliction 

Which he bore with Christian Patience, 

In the steady hope of Immortality, 

He breathed his last April 2nd 1792, 

In the 57*^ Year of his age. 

Sacred to the memory of 

Mn Mabtha Wallis, 

Who departed this life Oct. 17, 1812, 

In the 73d year of her age. 

She was the Relict of Mr Beeby Wallis, 

With whom she lived upwards of 30 years 

And whom she survived upwards of 20. 

Her death was a great loss 

To the Church assembling within the neighbouring walls, 

. Of which she was a useful and honourable member 49 Years. 



On the end panel are the following lines : — 

Kind Sycamore, preserve beneath thy shade 
The precious dust of those who oherish'd thee, 
Nor thee alone : — a Plant to them more dear 
They cherish' d and with fost'ring hand nprear*d ; 
Amongst whose fairest and most fmitfol boughs 
The name of Wallis has for ages ranked, 
And still it lives, and shall for years to come 
Live fragrant in our recollecting thoughts. 

Mr. J. W. Morris, in his Memoir of the Life and Writings of 
Andrew Fuller, says the inscription, written by Mr. Fuller and 
inscribed on the tomb, was as follows : — 

Kind sycamore, preserve, beneath thy shade, 
The precious dust of Him who cherished thee : 
Nor thee alone ; a plant to him more dear. 
He cherished, and with fost'ring hand upreared. 

Active and generous in Virtue's cause. 
With soHd wisdom, strict integrity. 
And unaffected piety, he Hved 
Beloved amongst us, and beloved he died. 

Beneath an Allon-Baohuth, Jacob wept : 
Beneath thy shade we mourn a heavier loss. 

The sycamore referred to no longer exists,^ although the one 
now there owes its parentage to the old tree. 

We find the following entries in the Society's annual accounts : 

£ 8. d. 

1803-4. WaUis, Mrs. Samuel .110 

1810-11. Wallis, Mr. George . . 10 

1812. WaUis, Mr. Joseph, for the loss by Fire at Serampore 5 

Wallis, Mr. G^rge, do. . . . 5 

1812-42. Wallis, Mr. George, Wellingborough . . 21 

1830. Wallis Mr. John . . 10 

1842. Wallis, Mrs., Kettering, Jubilee Fund . . 10 

Wallis, Mr. S. & Misses, do. . . 20 

Wallis, Mr. G., do. . 50 





LACK ISIERENGARIUS 

A Legend of Barn^vell Castle. 



A Bank -Holiday Ramble 

IN NORTH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 

Barnwell St. Andrew—- The Castle and Chorch— Tableaux Vivants IllustratiDg 
the Life of Maiy Queen of Scots — Fotheringhay Church, &c. 



The Pulpit in Fotheringhay Church. 



raiit^ IHitsttattmuf. 



The Drtdbn Press: TAYLOR & SON, 9 Collbob Strbbt. 

1889. 



Reprinted from 

Northamptonshire Notes & Queries, 

Parts XXII. and xxiii., 1889. 



(^fac6 (jStttnc^atiue : 



A Legknd of Barn^well Castlk. 



PN a lovely day in the aatumn of 1198^ the Halls of Barnwell 
Castle rang with merriment and feasting; it was the celebration 
of the majority of Berengarius le Moigne, the eldest son of 
Reginald le Moigne. 

On the evening of the same day, even before the minstrels had 
ceased to sing the praises of the absent Knight, and tell of the deeds 
of Richard of the Lion Heart, the two sons of Le Moigne had left 
the festive board, and met as though by appointment on the margin 
of the Nen, at a point now occupied by Barnwell Mills -, then a wild 
and uncultivated spot. The countenance of the elder though handsome 
was dark and forbidding, and the whole expression of his face was 
the index of a cruel, overbearing and ambitious temper ; the younger 
brother on the contrary was of a fair complexion, and his handsome 
form might have served as a model for the most glorious creations of 
a Phidias ; in disposition he was niild, merciful and just. 

The Castle of Barnwell, originally, was a fine s|)ecimen of those 
feudal edifices, erected principally for self-protection ; and contained 
independent of the area mark'd by the present remains, a broad 
ballium extending some distance, and was guarded by an outer vallum 
with barbican, &c., &c. There is little known however of its real 
history; the greater part resting on oral tradition, and probably the 
manuscript, which forms the foundation of this legend, which was 
found by the schoolmaster of the village, in the eastern bastion tower, 
has more claim to authenticity than any other record connected with 
the family, that once owned the castle and its domains. 



Reginald le Moigne« the proprietor of the castle, and father of the 
two young men already introduced to the reader, on the death of his 
amiable and beautiful wife, left bis native land to seek a grave for bis 
sorrows, in the questionable but exciting wars of the Crusades ; 
leaving his castle, estates, and two sons to the guardianship of his 
brother : who like himself had lost the only being, who form'd the 
spirit of his early dreams, but she left behind her, enshrined iu the 
lovely form of her daughter Nina, all her virtues and more than all 
her beauty. 

On the departure of his brother for the Holy Land, the uncle and 
his daughter, resided almost constantly at the castle y Nina, and his 
nephews being his only companions. Years roll'd on, and many a 
brave warrior who had outlived the deadly strife, had returned to his 
native land ; still there was no tidings of Reginald le Moigne. 
Wintner the youngest son, loved to talk of his father's return, and 
listened with intense interest to his guardian's description of his 
absent parent : on the contrary, there seemed to lurk in the breast of 
the elder brother a secret satisfaction j h« never referred during their 
long rambles, to the anticipated return of the absent knight ^ and he 
had been heard to say that on such a day, he would be master at 
Barnwell. A few months prior to the date, at the commencement of 
our narrative, a stranger arrived in the neighbourhood, and after an 
interview with the guardian uncle, took up his residence, iu a 
dilapidated and neglected building about a mile from the castle, the 
foundations of which may still be traced, in a field on the right hand 
of the toll-gate, in going to Barnwell from Oundle : he brought with 
him but one domestic who was as seldom seeu abroad as his master. 

We said that the youths met near the spot now occupied by 
Barnwell Mills, the elder was gazing on his brother with deadly scorn ; 
"Your pretentions to the hand of Nina are preposterous," said he, 
" the return of our parent is now, all but impossible, and I am his heir, 
and Nina can scarcely covet an alliance with a youth who must 
depend for support upon" "his sword j" — interrupted Wintner, 
whose noble spirit could not brook the degrading termination to the 
sentence. 

" Thy sword weakling," sneeringly responded Berengarius, ** I 
doubt will carve but a poor living for thee and thy spouse ; unless 
you mean to use it at my table, — no, no, Nina will scarcely condescend 
to smile upon thee, when she is acquainted with thy dependant 
condition, and that thy lodgment in the castle after to day, is only by 



sufferance ; cease therefore to deceive thyself and Nina, leave her to 
one who has the power to protect and maintain both." For a few 
moments, the younger brother gazed upon the speaker, as if struggling 
to suppress the torrent of passion and indignation, which the words of 
the unnaanly Berengarius, had created in his breast. — " When I ask 
thy protection, and Nina condescends to receive it; '* said he, "then, 
and not till then, will I relinquish my claim to her hand." " Ha, ha, 
ha," laughM Berengarius, *' thou art sentimental young one, it is 
amusing to hear a beggar talk of love; were I King I would crop the 
ears from off any puppy, that dared to mention the word, unless he 
possessed an inheritance equal to my own ; but keep thy hand from 
thy sword, for if thou makest too free with it, I may perchance put 
an end to thy billing and cooing propensities." 

*'Thou knowest I am no coward Berengarius, but I am thy 
brother," answered Wintner firmly. " A coward's resort," replied the 
unfeeling Berengarius. Their swords flashed from the scabbards, 
but before the brothers could make a single pass, a tall dark figure 
placed itself between them, and as it glided into the adjoining thicket, 
it murmured in a voice so low and solemn, that it sounded more like 
the winds sighing through a ruin, than the utterance of a human 
being; "Reginald le Moigne lives." At the same moment, the moon 
which shone brightly on the spot where they stood, sank behind a 
dark cloud, and the breeze came wailing through the trees like a 
host of troubled spirits ; crackling and crashing came the thunder > 
and the lightning, as it splintered into ten thousand atoms a noble 
oak, played round the naked blades which the brothers still grasped, 
and the sword of Berengarius became a fused and shapeless mass. 
'* Our father lives and heaven forbids our quarrel," said Wintner, as 
he turn'd from the spot, followed by Berengarius; they regained the 
castle with difficulty, amidst a fearful tempest, and the anxious Nina 
was the first to welcome her lover. Weeks passed on, but nothing 
occurred to break the seeming spell that hung over the occupants of 
the castle. Wintner however paid the same attentions to Nina, and 
he was aware that his dark souled brother, was the secret witness of 
their meetings j he had observed him more than once, gazing like a 
basilisk, from some thicket that skirted their path. Gradually the 
impression which the appearance and words of the dark figure left, 
upon the cold soul of Berengarius wore off; and he at length 
persuaded himself, that the whole was a trick cleverly play'd by some 
associate of Wintner*s, in order to secure the latter's continued residence 



at the castle, and the love and society of Nina. So completely was 
he impressed with this belief, that he at length wondered at his own 
stupidity in bein^ so easily duped ; hatred towards his brother became 
his master passion, and he determined to seek by some means his 
destruction or disgrace. To effect this, he knew it was in vain to 
look for his instrument amongst the retainers, or inmates of the castle; 
he however recollected having seen more than once, the attendant or 
servant of the stranger, who occupied the ruined house, about the 
gates, and even receive broken meat from the servants ; he therefore 
readily concluded, that such a necessitous and ill-conditioned wretch, 
would be a fit instrument wherewith to work out his deadly intentions. 
He therefore watched anxiously for his reappearance at the castle j 
nor was it long before his wish was gratified ; they met at midnight. 
** Name the deed and the sum," said the apparently needy wretch. 
"The deed and the sum," repeated the black-hearted Berengarius 
musingly. Then after a short pause, he whispered, " dost thou know 
the dungeon beneath the eastern bastion ? ** " Yes," thought 
Sanford (for such was his name), "and more than thou wilt ever 
know 3 " but he answered, " no, how should I know ought of the 
dungeon, or its secrets ? " Berengarius beckoned him to follow, and 
led the way to the bastion in question 3 thrusting his arm into an 
aperture in the wall, he withdrew a key of curious workmanship, 
with which he unlocked the low but massive door. To the surprise 
of Sanford, they found a lamp burning in a niche j Berengarius took 
it up, and pass'd on to a still lower entrance, then beckoning his 
companion to follow, they arrived by a circuitous but slightly 
descending passage at a dungeon, built apparently of the most 
substantial stone work j in the centi'e of the dungeon stood a bed or 
couch of the most finish'd workmanship. Berengarius handed the 
lamp to his companion, and instructed him to look attentively at the 
couch ; he then press'd with his foot a brass plate, and the bed began 
slowly to descend through the floor, when a large slab gradually closed 
the aperture left by its descent. Berengarius then gave Sanford an 
enquiring look, who nodded as though he perfectly understood him. 
" You know the deed, and there is the reward : " — As Sanford thrust 
a heavy purse into his breast he enquired, " is not Wintner acquainted 
with this secret machinery ? " " no, his curiosity never led him to 
think so deeply 5 his only study has been love, which I think, will be 
effectually cured by a night's repose on that handsome couch;" 
replied Berengarius with a fiendish smile. The hour for the 
execution of the hellish deed was fixM, they then left the dungeon 
and on reaching the outer gate separated. 



7 

Little did the virtuous and unsuspecting Wintner dream of the 
dark plot that was hatching against his life ; still he was not happy j the 
conduct of his brother, and the strange appearance of the dark figure, 
on the night of the quarrel, had sunk deeply into his young soul ; 
still he felt that the presence of the lovely Nina, relieved, if it did not 
dispel his melancholy 3 at times he was almost inclined to believe in 
the announcement of the apparition, (for such did he conceive it to 
be), •* Reginald le Moigne lives," he would repeat ivithout knowing 
it ; in his dreams the figure and the voice would come back, and 
he would awake muttering, " Reginald le Moigne lives." 

On the evening following the visit of Berengarius to the dungeon, 
Nina went forth as usual to meet Wintner; but what were her 
feelings, on reaching the oak, under whose giant arms they had so 
often met, and when the hours seemed to fly on angel's wings, to 
perceive by the light of the moon, that a fierce struggle had taken 
place, and her lover was no where to be seen 3 her agony became 
intense, and she rush'd back to the castle. 

Unfortunately the manuscript at this part is much damaged : the 
reader will therefore pass on to the dungeon before described, where 
bound and placed upon the treacherous couch, lay the handsome 
form of Wintner; over him stood the savage and unrelenting 
brother, who gazed upon him as he slowly descended into his living 
tomb. But who can paint the horror of the unhappy victim, when he 
fully comprehended the dreadful doom that awaited him : *' Mercy, — 
mercy,— my Father, — Nina, Nina** he exclaimed; and before that 
hallowed name had died upon his lips, the dread slab had closed over 
the dark abyss. The assassin turn'd to leave the scene of his hellish 
deed, when a portion of the wall seem'd to slide into the earth, and 
the Dark Figure leading forth his supposed victim, glided before him, 
and throwing aside the cloak that enveloped it; exclaimed in a voice 
of thunder, '• Reginald le Moigne lives.*' The fratricide gazed for a 
moment, he beheld the Dark Figure! the Stranger! the Returned 
Crusader! his Father! he uttered a hideous yell, and fell a senseless 
heap on the floor. When the wretched Berengarius returned to his 
senses, the Knight gently raised him, then placing his foot on another 
plate the mimic dungeon disappeared, and Reginald le Moigne led 
forth his sons to the banqueting hall ; where, sat the lovely Nina in 
the midst of a goodly company, who rose on their entrance, and the 
minstrels struck their harps with frantic joy. He waved his hand 
and breathless silence was restored. " Friends,*' said the Knight, as 



8 

he placed the hand of Nina within that of Wintner's ; '* behold the 
reward of virtue." Then turning to the erring Berengarius, " son " 
said he, '* were there no crime^ the divine principles of forgiveness 
and reconciliation, could have had no CKistence ; it is the victory of 
those radient principlesj that 1 now celebrate in joyous tears ; forgive 
— thou art forgiven/' 

The wretched Berengarius^ left the castle the following morning ; 
and his deeds of arms, became the theme of many a minstrel's lay. 
Years after he retum'd an alter'd, a better man ; (by no means the 
only one whose soul has been purified by the rude discipline of the 
camp) his principal pleasure seem'd to consist in inventing amusement 
for the lovely children of Wintner and Nina. 




®6e f aris]^ Cj^mj^ of Stake gogle. 



To 
The R^ R^ Father in God White by divine permission 
L^ Bp of Peterborough 

Wc^t ^umSIe ^petition 

of Edw^ Ward Esq L^ of the Manor, & Patron of y* 
Church & Rectory of Stoke Doyle in y* County of 
Northampton & y' L^ship*s Diocese of Peterborough, 
and of John Yorke Rector of y' s^ Parish & Parish 
Church, 

Sheweth 
That y' Parish Church of Stoke Doyle afores* is a 
very Antient Building, and (notwithstanding y* great 
Expences y* Parishoners have been at in Repairing the 
same) thro' length of Time is much decay^ and become 
so Ruinous, that to Repair it, & render it a decent 
place for the exercise of Religious Worship would be 
a Burthen too heavy fpr y* Parishoners to bear, And 
that y* s* Church in its present extent, is very much 
larger than is necessary for y* Inhabitants of so small 
a Parish, And also that y* upper part or spire of y* 
steeple of y' s* Parish Church is very defective & in 
great Danger of falling. And y' Petitioner as Lord of 



y' s* Manor & Patron of y* s'* Church & Rectory 
being freely disposed, & willing, & desirous at his own 
proper Costs & Charges to build a New Church there, 
suitable to y* present State of y* s* Parish & Number 
of y* Inhabitants in the Room & Place of y* s* Old 
Church, according to y* Model or Draught hereto 
annex'd, Humbly pray*s y' Lordship to appoint 
Comissioners, by all Lawful Ways & Means, as well 
upon y' Oaths of credible Witnesses as otherwise, to 
enquire into the Truth of y* Premisses, & p'ticularly, 
whether y* pulling down & taking away y* s* old 
Church, & Erecting a New one according to y^ s^ 
Modell or Draught hereto annex' d, will be any way 
Inconvenient, prejudicial, or detrimental to y* present 
Rector or his successors, or to any of y* Parishoners 
or Inhabitants of jr* s* Parish, And in what maner. 
And if it shall be adjudg'd necessary by able workmen, 
that y* s* steeple should be converted into a Tower, 
whether the same will be any way prejudicial, & in 
what manner. And that if y' L^ship shall be satisfyd in 
the Premises above specifyd, You will be pleasd to 
grant y' Leave & Licence accordingly. 

And y' Petitioners shall ever pray &c. 

E. W. 
J.Y. 



White by divine Providence Bp of Peterborough 
to o'r wellbeloved Jn** Creed of Oundle Esq, Elmes 
Spinkes of Aldwinckle Esq, the Rev* Matthew Hunt 
Clerk R' of Barnwell, Charles Laurence Clerk R' of 
Pilton, Francis Wells Clerk Vic' of Oundle, Henry 
Cecil of Oundle Gent, & Tho : Ponder of Rothwell 
Gent all in y' County of Northampton, & in our 
Diocese of Peterborough afores*, greeting. Whereas 
Edw* Ward Esq Lord of y* Manor & Patron of ye 
Church & Rectory of Stoke Doyle in y* s* County of 
Northampton & Diocese of Peterborough, and y* 
Rev* John Yorke Clerk Rector of y* s* Rectory & 
Parish-Church, have by Petition under their Hands to 
us directed, represented unto Us, that y* Parish-Church 
of Stoke Doyle afores* is a very Antient Church, & 
thro* Length of Time become so much decayd & 
ruinous, that to Repair it, & render it a decent place 
for y* Exercise of Divine Worship, would be a Burthen 
too heavy for y' Parishoners to bear, that y* said 
Church in it's present Extent is very much larger y" 
is necessary for y* Inhabitants of so small a Parish, 
And it is also further represented unto Us, that y* Spire 
of y* Steeple of y* s* Parish Church is very defective 
and in danger of falling, And y* s^ Edw* Ward Esq as 
L* of y Manor & Patron of y* s* Church & Rectory 
being freely disposed, & willing, and desirous at his 
own costs & charges to Build a New Church in y« 
Place of y* Present Church, suitable to the present 
state of ye Parish & Number of y People, according 
to y Modell or Draught hereunto annexd, hath humbly 
besought us, to appoint Commissioners to Enquire, by 
all Lawful Ways & Means, as well upon y* Oaths of 



credible Witnesses as otherwise, into y Truth of y* 
Premises, and whether y« pulling down & takeing 
away y s* Old Church, & in y place thereof Building 
a New Church according to the Modell or Draught 
hereunto annex'd will be any ways Inconvenient, 
prejudicial or detrimental to y present Rector or his 
successors, or to any of y Parishoners, or Inhabitants 
of y* s* Parish of Stoke Doyle, & in which maner, As 
also in case y Spire of y* s* Steeple canot be repaired 
whether y Pulling & takeing away y same, & con- 
verting the s'* Steeple into a Tower will be any ways 
prejudicial, & in what maner. And that if we should be 
satisfy'd of the Truth & Reasonableness of y 
Premises, we would be pleasd to grant our Leave & 
Licence accordingly, as in & by the s* Petition now 
remaining in o"" Registry may more fully appear. — 
These are therefore to Empower you, or any Five or more 
of you, to meet & sitt in y Parish Church of Stoke 
Doyle afores* on y* Ninth Day of April next ensueing, 
or on any other Day before y« Return hereof, & by all 
lawful Ways & Means to Enquire into y Truth of y 
Premises, & p'ticularly into the Decays of y s* 
Church, and in case it shall be puU'd down & another 
Built according to the Modell or Draught hereunto 
annex'd whether y* same will be suitable to y* present 
state of Y Parish & Number of y* Inhabitants, And 
whether y* pulling down y« Old Church & erecting a 
New Church will be any Ways Inconvenient, preju- 
dicial or detrimental to y* present Rector or his 
Successors, or to any of y Inhabitants of y« s* Parish, 
and in what manner. And in case y* s^ Spire Steeple 
caiiot be Repaired, whether y* Pulling down y* same, 
& converting it into a Tower-Steeple will be any ways 
prejudicial, And in what manner. And to certifie Us 
under y'^ Hands at or before the first Day of May 



next ensueing. — Given under our Episcopal Seal this 22 
day of March in y* Year of o' Lord 1731 — a. And 
in y* 4**» year of our Consecration. 

Sam Peiiington R' 
Wh. Peterbor. 

SmO. 

nwiafiitn fallen at tie eom'issCon. 

At a Comission of Enquiry held within the Parish 
Church of Stoke Doyle in y* County of Northampton 
& Diocese of Peterborough before y* Rev* Matthew 
Hunt, Charles Laurence, & Francis Wells Clerks, 
Henry Cecill and Thomas Ponder Gent Commissioners 
&c : on Munday y* 9* day of April 1722. 

William Sutton 
Thomas Lawford 
Charles Drew 
Thomas Bellamy & 
Richard Perkins 

Then produced & sworn &c. 

William Sutton of Kettering in y* County of 
Northampton Carpenter, Deposeth, That he has taken 
a View of y* Old Church of Stoke Doyle afores^ and 
that it contains in Length with the Chancell 92 feet 
within the Walls, & in Breadth with the North-Isle 36 
feet, & the whole fabrick is at present much out of 
Repair, that y* New Church intended to be built 
according to the Modell now shewn to him at the time 
of this his Examination with y* Chancell to it contains 
in Length 61 feet within y Walls, and 24 feet in 
Breadth, And th^at y* same when Built will be very 
Convenient & niuch more Commodious y° y present 
Church, a very great Advantage to the Rector & 



Inhabitants, as he veryly believes. That y« Seats in 
y* s^ New Church according to y* s* Modell & Draught 
will hold an Hundred & twenty people, there being 5 
Double Seats w*** will hold 8 people in each Seat, & 
sixteen Single ones W** will hold 5 in each Seat, That 
a Little Portico near the Steeple, & a little Door in y* 
Chancell will be very convenient, That according to 
the Information given him, & as he believes, the whole 
Number of Inhabitants of y* s* Parish at present 
consists of about 70 Souls, Men Women & Children, 
And therefore that the said New Church according to 
y* s* Modell will be large enough to hold y* All. — That 
y* Spire of y* s* Steeple is very much out of Repair, 
and y* if y* same be taken down & converted into a 
Tower sufficiently to be repaird, it will be very- 
Convenient, & no way prejudicial or detrimental to y* 
Rector or any of the Inhabitants, And y* when y* 
Alteration is made as proposed, it will be very con- 
venient & ornamental, and noway Prejudicial or 
Inconvenient to any person concernd, as he veryly 
believes. 

W. S. 

Thomas Lawford Plumber, Charles Drew Mason, 
Thomas Bellamy Joyner, & Richard Perkins Mason, 
Depose — That they were all present with Mr. Sutton 
when a View was taken of y* Old Church of Stoke 
Doyle, And y* they have, with Him, examined y 
Modell or Draught mentioned in his Deposition, & that 
all Matters & Things containd in his Deposition above 
written are true, as they veryly Believe. 

T. L. 
C. D. 
T. B. 
R. P. 



To 

The R* R^ Father in God White by divine permission 
L^ Bp of Peterborough. 

We, Matthew Hunt, Charles Laurence, & Francis 
Wells Clerks, Henry Cecil & Thomas Ponder Gent 
Commissioners authoriz* & appointed by y' L*ship to 
enquire into y* Matters & Things mentioned in the 
Commission to us directed, as also to view the Old 
Church of Stoke Doyle & y* Ruins & Defects thereof, 
& to consider of the proposal made for Building a 
New Church instead of y* Old one, according to y* 
Modell or Draught annexd to the s* Comission, Do 
hereby certifie y' L*p, that in Obedience to, & by 
vertue of the s* Com'ission, We did meet & sitt in y* 
s^ Parish Church of Stoke-Doyle, on Munday the 9 
Day of April 1722, & Then & There, as well upon 
our personal view, as upon the Oaths of divers credible 
Witnesses then & there produced, sworn, & examin'd, 
found that y* s* Old Church contain's in Length with 
y* Chancell within y* Walls 92 f* & 36 f* in Breadth, & 
that y* same at p'sent is very Ruinous & out of 
Repair, That y* New Church intended to be Built, 
according to y* Modell or Draught an*exd to this 
Com'ission, is to contain in Length with y* Chancell 
within y* Walls 61 P, and 24 P in Breadth, And y* when 
the same is Seated & Pew'd, as in y® Modell, it will 
hold 1 20 Souls, that y* present Number of Inhabitants 
of y* s^ Parish consists of about 70 Souls, & therefore 
we believe y* y* New Church intended to be built will 
be sufficient to hold all the Inhabitants of y* s^ Parish, 
& that when a Portico is added to the Church Door, 



8 

& a Little Door into y* Chancell it will be no ways 
prejudicial to y* present Rector or his Successors, or 
to any of y* Inhabitants of the s* Parish, but that y* 
same will be very Convenient & Ornamental, — And we 
further certifie y' Lordship that y* Spire of the Steeple 
of y* s* Church is very Ruinous and that if y* same 
be puird down & converted into a Tower to be well 
repaird, the same will be convenient & noway preju- 
dicial or detrimental as we believe. 

M. H. 
H. C. C. L. 
T. P. Fr. W. 

White by divine permission B'p of Peterborough, 
To all to whom these p'sents shall come, Greeting. 
Whereas Edw^ Ward Esq Lord of y* Man'or & Patron 
of y* Church & Rectory of Stoke Doyle in y* County 
of Northampton & in our Diocese of Peterborough, 
and y* Rev^ John Yorke Rector of y* s* Parish & 
Parish Church, have by Petition under their Hands to 
us directed represented unto Us, that y* Parish Church 
of Stoke Doyle afores* is a very Antient Building, and 
y* notwithstanding great Expences y* Parishoners 
have been at in Repairing y* same, thro* Length of 
Time is much decay'd & become so ruinous, That to 
Repair it, & render it a decent Place for y* Exercise 
of Religious Worship would be a Burden too heavy 
for y* Parishoners to bear. And y* the s^ Church in it's 
present Extent is much larger than is necessary for 
the Inhabitants of so small a Parish, And also, that 
y* upper part or Spire or Steeple of ye s^ Parish 
Church is in great Danger of falling. And y* s^ Edw* 
Ward as Lord of y* s* Manor & Patron of y* s** 



Church and Rectory, being freely disposed, & willing 
& desirous at his own proper Costs & Charges to 
Build a New Church there suitable to y* present state 
of y* Parish & Number of y* Inhabitants in y* Room 
& place of y* s* Old Church according to a Modell or 
Draught annexd to y* ^"^ Petition hath humbly requested 
us to appoint Commissioners by all lawful Ways & 
Means as well upon y® Oaths of credible Witnesses as 
otherwise to Enquire into y* Truth of y* Premises, & 
particularly, whether y® Pulling down & taking away 
y* s^ Old Church & Erecting a New One in lieu thereof 
according to y* said Modell or Draught will be any 
way Inconvenient Prejudicial or Detrimental to y® 
p'sent Rector or his successors or to any of y* 
Inhabitants of y* s* Parish & in what maner, as also, 
if upon a view of y* s* Steeple it shall be thought 
necessary by able workmen that y* s^ Spire Steeple 
should be converted into a Tower Steeple, Whether y* 
same will be any way prejudicial, & in what maner, 
And that if we should be satisfied in y* Premises 
above specified, We would be pleas'd to grant o' Leave 
& Licence accordingly, as in and by y® s*^ Petition now 
remaining in our Reg"^ may more fully appear. — And 
whereas at y* Request of y* s** Petitioners we did issue 
our Commission directed to John Creed of Oundle Esq', 
Elmes Spinkes of Aldwincle Esq', the Rev* Matthew 
Hunt Clerk R' of Barnwell, Charles Laurence Clerk 
R' of Pilton, Francis Wells Clerk Vic' of Oundle, 
Henry Cecill of Oundle afores* Gent. & Tho : Ponder 
of Rothwell Gent, all in y* County of Northampton & 
in our Diocese of Peterborough afores^ & did thereby 
empower them or any Five or more of them to meet 
& sitt in y* Parish Church of Stoke Doyle afores* on 
Monday y* 9**" day of this Inst April, & by all lawful 
Ways & Means as well upon y* Oaths of credible 



lO 



Witnesses as otherwise, to enquire into y* Truth of y* 
Premises contained in y* s* Petition, & particularly into 
y* Decays of y* s* Church, & in case it be pulFd down 
& another Built instead thereof according to y* s* 
Modell or Draught, whether y* same will be suitable to 
y* present state of y* Parish & Number of y* Inhabi- 
tants, & whether y* pulling down of y* Old Church & 
Erecting a New Church will be any way Inconven* 
Prejudicial or Detrimental to the present Rector or his 
Successors or to any of y* Inhabitants of y* s* Parish, 
& in what manner, and in case the Spire of y* s"^ 
Steeple be found so decayed y* it canot be Repaird, 
whether y* pulling down & takeing away y* same, & 
converting it into a Tower-steeple will be any way 
Inconvenient, & in what maner. And whereas y® s* 
Matthew Hunt Charles Laurence Francis Wells Henry 
Cecill & Thomas Ponder have certify'd us under their 
Hands, that by vertue of & in obedience to y* s* 
Commission to y" directed, they did meet & sitt in y* 
Parish-Church of Stoke Doyle on Munday y* Ninth 
Day of April, & then & there as well upon y* Oaths of 
Credible Witnesses, as upon their personal view, found 
that y* s* Parish Church which is very Old, Ruinous, 
& out of Repair, contains in Length, w*** y* Chancell, 
within y* Walls, 92 i\ & in it's Breadth, 36 P, that y* 
New Church w^ is intended to be Built according to 
y* said Modell or Draught w*'' y* Chancell will contain 
within y* Walls 61 Pin Length, & in Breadth 24 f, or 
thereabouts, & when y* same is Seated as in y* s* 
Modell, it will hold 120 persons, that y* present 
Number of Inhabitants of the said Parish consists of 
about 70 Persons, Men, Wcrmen, & Children, And 
therefore y* s* New Church will be capable of holding 
a much larger Number y** y* Inhabitants there, that if 
y* s* Church be Built according to y* s* Modell & a 



1 1 

Portico made to y* Church Door & a little Door into 
y* Chancell it will be a very Convenient & Beautyful 
Structure, & no ways Prejudicial or Detrimental to y* 
p'sent Rector or his Successors or to any of y* 
Inhabitants of y* s^ Parish but a great Advantage. 
And that if y* Spire of y* Steeple of y* said Church 
w*"** is now out of Repair be puUd down & taken away 
& converted into a Tower it will be no ways Incon- 
venient or Detrimental, as in & by y* said Certificate 
now also remaining in our Registry may more fully 
appear, — ^We therefore being fully satisfyd of y* Truth 
of y* Premises & willing to encourage so Pious and 
Charitable a Design do hereby by vertue of our 
Authority Ordinary & Episcopal for Us & our Success- 
ors as much as in us lyes grant unto the said Edward 
Ward Esq our Leave & Licence to pull down & 
take away y* s* Old Church, & in the Room & Stead 
thereof to Build the said New Church according to y* 
s^ Modell or Draught & to Seat & Pew the same as 
is therein specifyd, & to make a Portico adjoyning to 
the Church Door & a little Door into the Chancell, 
He taking as much Care as possible to Preserve the 
Inscriptions & Monuments in y* said Old Church, also 
to Pull down & take away y* Spire of y* s^ Steeple & 
Convert it into a Tower, provided he putt y* s* Tower 
in very good Repair & make it Ornamental. In 
Witness whereof We have causd y* Seal of our Vicar 
General to be hereunto ^ffixd, this fourteenth Day of 
April in y* Year of our Lord 1722 and in y* 4*^ Year 
of our Consecration. 

N. The Licence is on Parchment, 
w* 3. 5' Stamps— J. Y. 



12 



of a %ttttt teom 3f. HT. to se B9. of peterti : 

May it please y' L'^ship 

M' Ward haveing applyd to y' L^p for a Licence 
to enter upon that Good Work he ha's at heart of 
Rebuilding our Church, And a Commission in order to 
it, being ev'ry day expected to be sent down, w^ when 
arrived will soon be executed, 'Tis time for me humbly 
to begg y' L^p's Directions concerning a Proper Place 
for Divine Worship, 'till y* New Church shall be fitted 
for that Purpose. I remember on my mentioning this 
to y' L^p at Oundle you was pleas'd to say. The 
Parsonage-Hall would hold my small Parish. So it 
will. And tho' it may be some Inconvenience to my 
family, especially if y' L^p should forbid the Use of it 
on Week-Days as a Com'on Room, (as I have hitherto 
used it, winter & summer) Yet I should be ashamed to 
make that or any Objection. Be pleas'd (my Lord) to 
give me your Com'ands in Writeing, that I may not 
mistake my Duty, & they shall be chearfully obey'd. 

The want of an Opportunity of Thanking yo' 
L*p for sending me y* Charge, ha*s given me some 
Uneasyness, But I have y* Satisfaction of shewing 
you, that y* Favour conferred so long ago, is not yet 
forgotten, by, my Lord, 

Y' Ldp*s most obedient &c. 

J. YORKE. 

To y' R* R* y^ L* Bp 
of Peterborough. 

Stoke Doyle 21 March 1721. 



13 



Revo S- 

I have your's of March 2 1 . and had before sent 
y* Commission of Enquiry to your Worthy Patron Mr. 
Ward, who I presume ha's transmitted it to y' Hands, 
in order to have it shew'n to y* Com'issioners or a 
major Part of y™ to be executed by y° with all con- 
venient speed. When their day of Meeting is 
appointed M' Pennington the Registrar at North- 
ampton desires to have Notice of it, that he may 
attend and direct y® right Form of Return, that there 
may be no defect in y* Proceeding according to our 
Eccles. Law. — As to a Place in y® interim for Divine 
Worship not to be intermitted, I am glad you agree 
with me in my first Thought of your Parsonage- Hall, 
w^ is large enough for y' Congregation, & has some- 
what y® Form of a Chappell, Not that it should seem 
Dedicated and sett Apart wholly to that Purpose, but 
to be Occasionally made use of on Sundays and Holy 
days, and upon other days as freely Employed for y*" 
Domestick Uses. You will take care, as by my Order, 
& y** Church Warden's consent, & y** Patron's 
Approbation, to Remove from y* Old-Church the 
Com'union-Table, & Other moveable Seats, Matts, 
Basses, &c. and ev'n Desk & Pulpit or one of y" at 
least, to be made portable, & placed, with y* Furniture 
in such Part of y' Hall as you shall think fitt : All 
w''** I presume may be Removeable after Divine 
Service ; If not, the Hall, w*** such furniture in it, will 
not be proper for your Com'on Room. 



14 

I have two or three things to Advise and expect 
y' Complyance in. 

I. That you take exact Coppies of all the Inscriptions on Mona- 

meots & Grave-StooeSy & Descriptions of Coats &c in 
Windows, and Keeping One Coppy, send me a Duplicate 
attested by your own Hand. 

II. That you prepare a Book in good Paper well Round & enter into 

it y* Coppies of all such Instruments as shall pass in order, 
for takeiug away y* Old, & Erecting y* New Church. 

III. That great Care & Safe Custody be had of y* Remaining Steeple 

& Bells. — I think y* Office of Marriage should be in y* Steeple, 
And y* Bells call the People together in all other Divine 
Service^ as while y* Offices were in y* Church itself. 

IV. That you desire M' Ward, who, I know, propose's nothing but 

Publick Good, to make the cora'ou door into y* Church, 
project some feet into y* Churchyard, as a sort of Portico, if 
there be no cover*d Church-Porch, That there be a small 
Postern door from y* Church Yard into the Chaucell for y* 
Convenience of y* Minister as in all other Chanoells, And 
that if possible, there may be a small Apartment allotted out 
of y* Family Isle for a Vestry to Habit in, & for the Chest of 
Vestments and Utensils. 

These are my desires & as far as I have Authority 
my Injunctions in this Matter. I pray God Preserve 
You to see an End of this Good Work, and long to 
enjoy the Good Effects of it 

I am your loveing Brother 

Wh. Peterbor. 
March 24 1721—2. 

P. S. I need not Advise y* not Carrying away any of y* old Materials 
y* will serve to be work'd up in y* New Fabrick, Nor need I 
xeoom'end to you y« Opportunity & Advantage you may have of 
bringing y' People to a more strict Conformity in Kneeling, 
standing, makeing Responses &c better perhaps y" you could well ^ 
do at a greater distance from you in y" Church. 



15 



Mem***- 
The Desk, Com'union-Table, some Seats> Benches, 
& Basses, being brought from y* Church, & place'd in 
the Hall of y* Parsonage-House, Divine Service was 
performed there, for y* first time on y* 15 of April, 
1722. 

The First Stone of y* New Church was layd on 
y* 28 Day of May, 1722. 

The New Roof of y* Church was rays'd & layd 
on before the End of October 1722, and in November 
it was cover'd w*** Lead. 

All y* Summer 1723 being too little to Dry the 
Walls, no Joyner's Work was done in the New Church, 
'till the Sum'er 1724. When the Pews, Seats, Pulpitt, 
Reading Desk, Altar-Piece, Com'union Table & Rayls, 
were made & Placed, the Chancel-Part Wainscotted, 
the doors putt up, the Windows glasse'd and the Floor 
Paved, And the Cieling & Walls plaisterd. 

Mem*"^ 
The first Stone of y* New Steeple was layd on 
the first day of June 1724. 

The finishings of y* New Steeple were sett up 
towards the End of Aug* 1725 

Mem*"*"- 
In y* Sum'er of y* year 1 724 (the Walls being 
then tolerably Dry) The Pulpitt, Reading-Desk, Pews, 



i6 

Com'union Table & Rayls, were made and placed, the 
Chancel-part was wainscotted & Altarpiece sett up, 
the whole Church paved with Ketton-stone, the Doors 
putt up, the Windows Glass'd, and the Cieling and 
Walls Plaister'd. 

Mem^°°'- 
It was intended that y"" New Church should be 
Open'd & made use of in y*" Sum'er of the Year 1725, 
But M' Ward happening hot to come into the Countrey 
'till the Sum'er was almost over, & some Utensils &c. 
being wanting, the Opening was putt off for that 
Winter, dureing which Delay I fell into so very bad a 
State of Health, as not to be able for two year's to 
Officiate any where but in the Chappel at y*" Parsonage- 
House. And there appearing very little probability of 
my Recovery, the Church was open'd on the 24 Day 
of March 1727 (The new Books, Pulpitt-Cushion, Carp* 
for y® Com'union-Table, Basses, & other Cushions 
being all prepared, at y"" Sole Expence of the same 
worthy person, who had raised the fabrick of Church 
& Steeple and done all the Inner Work at his own 
Cost,) 

The first Sermon preachd in y® New Church was 
y* s* 24 of March 1727 by Mr. Musgrave Rector of 
S* Peter's Aldwinckle. 

(24 Mar. 1727. J. Yorke) 

The five Bells (two of y"* being crack'd, and y* 
rest Untuneable) were all new Cast in the Winter 1727, 
And in the Begining of Sum'er 1728 they were hung 
up in the Steeple, in New Frames, And about the same 
time a New Clock provided & placed in y® said Steeple ; 
All at y* Expence of E. W. Esqr. 



In y' old Church of Stoke-Doyle. 



Id an Isle on 7* North side of the Chancell, and upon the North- Wall 
of y* said Isle — ^The Dimentions, Form &c — of w** with y* 
Inscriptions^ need not be inserted here, since the same Monument 
IS sett up again, on y* North side of y* Chancell-Part of y* New 
Church. 

On y* Floor of y* said old Isle just under y* Monument^ on a Broad 
Stone is inscribed Mrs. Frances Palmer* 

N.B. This Broad Stone^ as well as y' rest in the Isle & Chancell, 
were left in their several places, being now coverd over with 
Earth, 6 or 8 Inches thick. 

In y« same Isle on y' Floor, A Stone about 3 f* Long and 2 f* Broad — 
inscribed Steeven Sawyer son of M' John Sawyer & M" Sarah 
Sawyer of Kettering. July 13. 1630. 

A Stone about 7 T long & 3 f Broad with this Inscription Here 
lyeth y' Body of John Combes £sqr who departed this Life upon 
y* 27 Day of March Ano Dom. 1654. 

A Stone 3 f i long 2 P broad, inscribed Here lyes y* Body of Edw* 
Palmer eldest Son of £dw^ Palmer Esqr who dep'ed this life 27 
Dec. Ano Dom. 1654. 

Two other Stones, each ab* y* Bigness of £d. Palmer's lyeing close 
together. 

i6j8 Francis Combes Buryed Aug^ 13. 16 j8 Richard Combes 
Buryed Aug* 26. 

In y* Old Chancell of the said Parish-Church. In y* middle of y* 
Floor, A Stone 8 f Long, somewhat more y" 3 f* Broad, With y* 
following Letters near j Inches asunder, along y' Middle, from 
West to East. 

(X) 

* R.LC.A.R.D.V.S A. D S. T.U.N. * 

(X) BnppoMd to be ua H. 



i8 

On 7* Floor of 7* Cbaocell (near y" Large Stone above described) is a 
Stone about jf 4 long, & 2 f broad w* y* following Inscription — 
GefT. Son of Charles Palmer Rector, & Mary his Wife Aug* 26. 
703. 

On one of the Pillars on y* North-side of y* said Chancell, hung a 
Wooden frame, abt 3 f* Long, & 19 Inches broad, in Memory of 
Fraaces Balguy daughter of Tho. Balguy Rector & of Mary his 
Wife, the daughter of Tho : Westfield late L* Bp of Bristol!. 
The s* Frances dyed 27 April 1650. Scarce 6 months old. 
Under y* Inscription are y* Arms of Balguy and Westfield in a 
Lozenge, and y» some Verses, w''*' I omitt here, supposing y* S* 
frame will find a place in y' New Church. 

On y' South Wall of the said Chancell, a little Marble ab' 3 P square 
w* Arms & Inscription for T. Balguy S.T.B. Reef &c.— Which 
may ba seen on y* Floor of y* New-Church, as near y* Grave as 
it could be laid. Over y* Grave, lyes a stone (cover'd with £arth 
as y* Rest) ab' 6 f^ long, 3 f* wide inscribed — Thomas Balguy 

N.B. The East-Part of y' Old Chancell (viz* ab* 9 or 10 ft of it) was 
rais'd above y* rest of the Floor by 3 large Steps, to allow room 
for a Vault underneath, into w* there was an Entrance by Stone 
Stairs between y' North-Isle & y' s* Chancell. This Vault 
seem*d to have been designed (& might probably be formerly 
used) for a Vestry. Tis now filld up with Rubbish. 

About 6 or 8 ft also of the Old North-Isle above mentioned (at y* 
East End) was a sort of a Vault, where lay a Number of Sculls 
&c. It was covered with coarse Slabbs, had no way into it but 
thro' a little Stone Window on y* North-side. This place is also 
filld up & levelld with Rubbish. 

N.B. The Graves in y* Chancell, & the s* North-Isle extended no 
farther Eastward than to the Steps, where y' s** Vaults began. 



gtsiorkal anltr g^rr^ttedural gotes 

OK VHB 

Parish ^ F ai\ish Chue^ch of Stoke Doyle. 



Rev. W. D. SWEETING, M.A. 

Vuar of Maxey, late Head Master of the King's School, Peterborough. 



p 



TOK B U O YLE. 



Cl^e Cl^ttrrl^ anb its J|jetruatbm 



The village of Stoke Doyle is situated on the river 
Nene, about 2 miles south-west of Oundle. Stocke, 
with some land belonging to Undele (Oundle) manor, 
is mentioned in Domesday, but there seems then to 
have been no church. The word means an enclosure ; 
strictly speaking, one surrounded by stocks or piles. 
(Taylor's Words and Places, 2nd ed., 121.) There are 
two or three hundred places in England which derive 
their names from the Anglo-Saxon stoc, a stockaded 
place. At the beginning of the i8th century the 
population was 70. The largest recorded number of 
inhabitants was at the census in 1 841, when there were 
169. In 1 88 1 the number was 119. 

The distinctive addition of Doyle, or Doyley, is 
derived from the family D'Oyly who possessed the 
lordship in the reign of Edward II. The families of 
Knightley, Lewknore, baron Windsor, Tresham, 
Palmer, Ward, Hunt, and Capron, have in turn owned 
the manor* The lord of the manor has always 
presented to the living. 



22 

The value of the rectory in 1254, deducting a 
portion of ids. belonging to the sacrist of Peter- 
borough, was returned at ^^lo: in 1535 its gross value 
was ^20. 13s. 4d. : in 1835 it was ^^162. The church 
is dedicated to S. Rumbald. At Colchester is a 
church with the same dedication, there called S. 
Rumwald ; and it is believed that those two are the 
only parish churches in the Kingdom that thus 
preserve the memory of the infant saint. An account 
of him, with extracts from Newcourt, Leland, and 
Browne Willis, is given in Buckler's Churches of 
EsseXy p. 220. S. Rumbald was born at King's 
Sutton, CO. Northants. His father is said to have 
been Alfred, King of Northumbria, and his mother 
Kyneburga, one of the daughters of Penda, King of 
Mercia. To her the church at Castor in this county is 
dedicated. S. Rumbald lived but three days, and 
is said to have miraculously solicited baptism, 
anticipating his early death. About a mile from 
King's Sutton, at Walton, there was a chapel 
dedicated to him : and at Astrop, another hamlet, was 
a well called S. Rumbald's well, at one time in some 
reputation for its mineral qualities. At Brackley was 
a chantry dedicated to him ; his body was removed 
hither three days after his death : and after three 
years his body was removed to Buckingham, where 
also was a chantry dedicated to him. He died 3 Nov. 
662 : the village feast at Stoke Doyle, held the Sunday 
after All Saints' day, preserves the memory of this 
date : the date of the translation was probably 28 
Aug. 

From a drawing and plan that have been preserved 
of the original church it is clear that it was of the 



23 

geometrical period, built about the middle of the 13th 
century. It had a chancel with north chantry, nave 
with north aisle, and western broach spire of the best 
Northamptonshire type. There was a large round- 
headed south door, with many shafts, and ornamented 
with dogtooth, but no porch. On the plan, between 
the chancel and chantry, is marked the position of a 
monumental effigy, or coffin lid : this might indicate 
that the remarkable recumbent effigy, now at the east 
end of the present chancel, in the churchyard, was 
formerly within the church,* The existing church is 
built in the style common at the commencement of the 
1 8th century. It has a nave and chancel, with an 
apartment to the north, described in bishop Kennet's 
letter as "y® Family Isle," which contains the massive 
monument of the lord chief justice, and also does 
duty as a vestry. It is known in the parish as " the 
north parlour." There is a fair tower to the west, with 
tall pinnacles. The bishop's instructions, given in the 
licence, that there should be a portico to the church 
door, and a little door into the chancel, were not 
attended to ; unless indeed the former direction was 
held to be obeyed by the slight projecting canopy and 
piers erected in front of the south door. Some of the 
upper part of this erection has lately fallen down. All 
the windows are plain round headed without tracery, 
except those on each side of the east window, which 
are simple parallelograms, and the small circular ones 
in the tower. There is nothing of interest within the 
church except the monumental inscriptions. The 
whole of these are given below at full. Above the 
east window is a text, and on each side of it an angel 
in the act of adoration, well carved in wood, almost of 

♦ See p. 46. This eflBgy is probably in its original position, though no longer 
-within the walls of the chnroh. 



24 

life size. These were purchased with part o{ a 
donation made by rector Shillibeer towards the adorn- 
ment of the church. The sounding board over the 
pulpit is large and well made, and seems to be of the 
same date as the fabric. No monuments of date 
anterior to the destruction of the old church remain, 
beyond those to chief justice Ward, Mrs. Palmer, and 
rector Balguy. All the others recorded pp. 17, 18, 
are now buried. The wooden frame, with the verses, 
omitted in the Transcript, because it was supposed 
" y* s^ frame will find a place in y* New Church," has 
also disappeared. No trace is to be found of the 
stone recorded by Bridges as visible in the Tower with 
the words "Orate pro anima Hawisie," nor of the 
long stone in the chancel recording, in old church 
text, the name of Richard Ashtun, who came to the 
rectory in 1390. 



25 



ILfst of t^t SElettors* 

The following list of Rectors is from Bridges, verified 
where possible by the parish books, and completed 
from the Peterborough registry. 

1 380 William de Stokton. 

1290 John de Stokton. 

1310 William de Whatton. 

1349 Gilbert de Ktnghtelet. 

1369 William Faber. 

1386 William de Ronton occurs this year. 

1390 Richard Assheton, buried here. 

1435 Thomas Travers. 

1453 Thomas Wise. 

1461 Edmund Churchb. 

1491 George Lewkenorb. 

1501 John Cartngton. 

1546 Richard Wigmore, ll.b. 

1570 Thomas Deacon, buried here 3 Oct., 1597. 

1597 Anthony Welles, buried here 31 July, 163a. 

163a Thomas Balgut, s.t.b., buried here 17 May, 1653. 

James Clark, buried here 9 May, 1667. 

1667 John Whitehall, buried here 16 Jan., 1685. 

16S6 William Cawthorn, m.a. 

1689 Charles Palmer, buried here 3 Apr. 17 17. 

1717 John Yorke, m.a., buried here 31 July, 1730. 

1730 £dward Yorke. 

^735 Rowland Hunt, d,d., buried here aa Sep., 1785. 

1786 Edward Hunt, m.a. 

i8aa Heaton Champion de Crespignt, also Vicar of Neatishead, 

CO. Norf. 

^^33 John Shillibeer. 

1841 George Hallidat Capron. 

1873 Charles Henrt Ward Capron, b.a. 

1880 John Thomas Burt, b.a., now Rector of Widdiugton, co. 

Essex. 



II 



26 



The register begins in 1560. The first book has 
this heading : — 

The booke of register of all the Christnynges mariages and burialles 
for Stoke Doyle in the countye of Northampton begiuninge 
Anno domini 1560. 

The extracts here given refer mostly to the lords 
of the manor, or to the rectors. A few others have 
also been found interesting. The first book extends 
from 1560 to 1653, the second to 1736, the third to 
1 81 2. The first extract is from the baptisms, the 
next two from the marriages, and the remainder from 
the burials. From 1653 to 1662 the entries are of 
births, not baptisms. 

1660 The birth of Edwards Clarke y« sonn of James Clarke Rector 
& M" Elizabeth Clark his wife was May 22 
£. CI dyd fellow of Clare Hall & Squire in Boodle in Jan. 
1726. 

157 1 August 7 James Ellis, doctor of lawe and Chancellour of 
Peterboroughe Mary Skinner 

1667 Thomas Trott Rector of Barkston: Lincl : & M" Eliz : 
Bowles of Oundle were married by licence 17 Dec. 

1597 thus farre copyed out of y* ould register w*h was in paper. 
Septeb. 30 Thomas Deacon rector ecclesiae diem obiit. 
October 3 Thomas Deacon rector ecclesiae sepultus. 

1599 April 2 Richarde Baker y« elder freehoulder 
Maye 29 John Clitherowe y* oulde man 

161 1 March. 12. Margerye fearne Widowe aboue y* age of 100 
yeares about. 5. 

161 8 Sep. 28 Anne Sanders Widowe, octogenaria et ultra 

1626 Oct. j. Amy Stanniarne widow buried 90 annoru vixit 

1632 July 31 Anthony Welles parson was buried 

1633 Apr. 29 Anthony Palmer Esquire was Buried, on Goodfridaye, 

Aprill 29th 1633 
i6j3 May 16 Tho : Balguy Rector ecclesiae Diem obijt. 
May 17 Tho Balguy Rector ecclesiae sepultus 



27 

t66j Old Widow Custance was buryed Mar. 28. 

1683 August y* 8^ 1683 Edward Palmer Lord of this Town was 

buried Aged 6^ : 
1693 Geffery Palmer Esq. Lord of this Towne was buried Aged 38 

1764 Dorcas y* Wife of Harold Brookebank an excellent Woman 
& a good Neighbour was Buried Aged 72 

July y 29 1714 The Right Hon^^ S"^ Edward Ward Kt Lord Chief 
Baron of the Exchequer and Lord of this Town Aged 77 
was Buryed (He dyed y« 16 of July, at London) 

1730 The Rev»d- M'- John Yorke Reef- of this Parish dyed July 
30 bury'd July 31 

1734 Edward Ward Esq' Lord of this Mannor died 28 May and 
was buryed 8 June 1734 

1752 Philip Ward Esq last surviving Son of Lord Cheif Baron 
Ward & Lord of this Mannor died April 7. buried D** 13. 

1757 Elizabeth Ward Daughter of the kte L"^ Cheif Baron Ward 
& Dame Elizabeth his Wife died at Kensington Sept' 9 
buried here D*' 20. 

1783 Thomas Smith Farmer & Horse Dealer of this Parish Died at 
Yorke Dec'* ig^' He left a Widow & fourteen Children 
thirteen of whom w*^* the Widow followed Him to y* Grave. 
A truly affectinge Scene ! The first Tax for a Burial — 3d. 

1785 Mary, the Wife of Edward Hunt Esq" of The Parish of Oundle 
Died May 28*** Buried June 3^* in y«* Vault at this Church, 
Close by the Wall at Back of The Pulpit Tax paid 3d. 
The Rev^* Rowland Hunt Doctor in Divinity Fifty Years 
Rector Of This Church Died Sunday September i8*^" 1785 
Ten Minutes before Twelve O'clock at Night. In the 77th 
Year of his Age. Buried in y* South side of The Chancel 
September 22^- Tax Paid, 3d. 

Of unusual Christian names these occur at the 
dates given : — 

Abigail, 1614, Cysley, ij88. Prudence, i J64, 

Amphilis, 1J95, Damaris, 1589, Simeon, 1602, 

Anthonye, i J99, Dorcas, 1J97, Sylvester, 1J98, 

Augustine, 1602, Jeremye, 1600, Tobye, 1594, 

Barberye, 1J92, Miriam, 1600, Urslye, i6ij. 

Cassandra, 1721, Priscilla, 1584, 



28 

On a spare leaf at the beginning of the second 
book, are these lines : — 

Much have I seene, yet seldome seene I have 
Ambition goe grayheaded to his grave. 
Long have I seene the worlds uncertaine change 
Joy moves not me. Affliction is not strange. 

The following inventory is copied into the second 
register book: — 

An Inventory of all y* utensils (y* books excepted) belonging to 
y" Church of Stoke-Doyle in y* County of Northampton as it was 
taken by y* Minister & one of y" Church- Wardens : a Coppy whereof 
was deliver'd to y* Register at Oundle (according to y^ Order of y" 
Bishop) at y« Episcopall Visitation held there y' 17 of July 171 1. 

I I A handsome large silver guilt Chalice w*^ a guilt Cover, w*^ this 
inscription upon y* foot of y« Chalice. Ex dono Gratia 
Stevens ad usum Ecclesiae de Stoke Anno Dni 1708. 

2 : A small silver engraved Chalice w*^ an engraved Cover. 

3 : A silver ribb'd dish for bread w"* 2 escollop-ears : w* this mark 

at y* bottom underneath. B 

T M 

4 • Two Pewter Flaggons w*"* this inscription upon y* forepart of 

each of them. 

STOKE ^ DOYLE 1 647. T. B. RECTOR. 

5 : a Green Carpit for y" Communion-Table. 
6 : A Holland Table-Cloth, 

7 : A Napkin. 

8 : A Green Pulpit-Cusheon. 

9 : A Holland Surplice. 

J. Palmer. ReC 
Charles Lawrence Cur : 

Tho: Hewit ^ 

being > Church- Wardens. a:d. 1711 
Rob: Rowell ) 



29 

By a later entry it appears that in 1 734 the two 
flagons, the two chalices with their covers, and one 
silver dish, were exchanged for what was considered 
more suitable plate, consisting of one flagon, one 
chalice and cover, and two silver plates. 



The monumental inscriptions within the church 
are here given, together with brief descriptions of the 
monuments themselves. 

I. In the vestry is a very large and costly 
monument, having a reclining effigy of life size 
representing the deceased in his judge's robes and 
full flowing wig, (said to be by Rysbrack,) surmounted 
by a helmet from which the crest has disappeared, and 
this coat of arms: Azure, a cross fleurie or, Ward; 
impaling, azure, a chevron between three butterflies 
argent, Papillon, The bearings on the sinister shield 
have a punning reference to the name of the family 
into which the judge married. 

The inscription is lengthy: — 



30 




31 




th^ 



ill"! 

1 1 a -S* 



32 

2. Against the north wall of the chancel is an 
elaborate monument, representing a woman resting 
her right arm on a pillow. In front is her kneeling 
husband, a son and daughter kneeling before him. 
According to the inscription there was originally a 
third child /'here pvrtrayed." Behind the husband 
were four skulls, two of them remaining, to shew that 
four of the children had died before the mother. 
Much of the monument is of alabaster ; the inscriptions 
are cut on black marble. The crest at the top is 
now much mutilated, but in Bridges, ii. 378, it is said to 
be this : — Out of a ducal coronet or, a griffin's head 
argent. One coat. Palmer^ bears : — Azure, a chevron 
engrailed between three crescents argent : a second 
has Palmer (as before) impaling Harvey : — Gules, on 
a bend argent tliree trefoils vert ; on a canton or, a 
leopard's face of the field. A third coat bears Harvey 
only. Except for the canton this shield is the same 
as borne by the family of Hefvey of Ickworth, 
marquesses of Bristol. Sir Francis Harvey, father 
of the lady here commemorated, was of the 
Harveys of West Walton, co. Norf., 7th in descent 
from William Hervey, of Ley and Wotton, who was 
ancestor in the 12th generation of the first earl of 
Bristol. {Visitation of Suffolk^ 1561, edited by J. J. 
Howard, LL.D., 1866.) The name, as recorded on a 
stone iri the floor, has disappeared, as well as the 
same on a stone under the arch, mentioned by Bridges. 
The inscription above the figures is this : — 

Fravnccs Palmer y® faythfvll lovinge wife of Edward 
Palmer beinge of the age of twenty eight yea- 
res departed this life in the trew f care of 
God on the fovrth day of Febrvary, 1628. and 
lyes heere interred expecting^ a loyfull re- 
syrrection to life everlastinge. 



33 
Below them are the following two tablets : 

To ezpreflse her blessed goodnes that here lyes, 
ten times the roomth she takes covld not suffice 
To tell her worth, lett fame her self e so straine 
till the world thinke that she is fore'd to f aine 
ThoB Virtves she speakes not in flesh and blovde 
Loe in her selfe, this woman covld make good 
If ever man shall happ againe to finde 
bnt such another, amonghst woman kinde 
If she dye his, lett him then bring her hether 
open this stone and lett them lye together 
And for theire onlye sakes, this little tombe 
a shrine for rolioqoes shall in time be come. 

This monyment, was erected by Edward Palmer 
Covnceller att law sonne & heire Aparent of Anthony Pal- 
mer Esqr : Lord of this manner, in the worthy memo- 
ry of Fravnces his deerly beloved wife ; who was the 
davghter of Sir Fravncis Harvy Kt, one of y© Ivstices of 
the covrt ci comon pleas, wch Edward & Fravncis, lived 
happily togeather by y« space of ten yeares ; & in that 
time, had issve seaven sweet children ; 3. of which child* : 
svrvived theire sayd mother : & togeather wth : the said Ed- 
ward ; here pvrtrayed wt*» ; them doe remaine alive att y« 
finishinge of this monvmente, beinge in Avgnst 1629. 
hopinge to take parte w^h ; the sayd Eravnces of the 
loyes celestiall. 

3. A marble monument in the east wall, on the 
north of the altar, is said to be by Chantrey. It is of 
white marble ; tlie surviving husband is weeping over 
the hand of his dying wife. These words are 
beneath : — 

In the Tatdt beneath are deposited the mortal remains of 

Hannah, 

the wife of the rey^- B. Boberts A.M., 

curate of this parish, 

who died on the IS^h* of June 1819, in the 85^- year of her age. 

Also of Elizabeth their daughter, 

who died on the 80^* of July 1819 aged 6 weeks. 



34 

4- On a black marble slab in the floor, below 
the last : — 

Hannah Roberts, 

died June 15th. 1S19, oged 34. 

Elisabeth Roberts, 

died July SO^b. 1819, aged 6 weeks. 

Robert Roberts, D.D. 

formerly curate of this parish 

and late rector of 

Barnwell and Wadenhoe, 

died May 16th. 1829; 

aged 49 years. 

5. On a tablet in the east wall, on the south of 
the altar, is this shield : — Per pale sable and argent, a 
saltire countercharged. Hunt : impaling, ermine, three 
hounds passant guardant gules, Calcroft (?) ; and this 
inscription : — 

Beneath 
Are deposited the mortal Remains of 

Katharine 
Late Wife of Rowland Hunt D.D. 

Rector of this Church. 
Her unaffected Piety & Devotion ; 
Her many eminent Virtues, softned with 
Native Sweetness & Gentleness of Mind ; 
Her obliging Behaviour ; 
Delicacy of Sentiment & Manners ; 
Her faithfull & disinterested Friendships ; 
Her Condescention & Charity to the Poor ; 
Her Candour & Benevolence to all ; 
These are the Just Memorials with 
All her Acquaintance upon Earth ; 
Her Reward in Heaven She expected 
With amazing Patience & Resignation 
To the Will of her Heavenly Father, 
Under a painfull & lingring Illness. 
In every Branch of ye Conjugal Character 5 
How valuable, tender, & pleasing She was. 
Language & Tears have not Power to ei press. 
She chang'd this uncertain Life for Glory 
FebiT. 28 1760. 
Universally lamented. 
Truly esteem'd & most affectionately belov'd 
By her Afflicted Husband. 



35 

6. The following, now in the chancel floor, 
towards the south, is said by Bridges to have been 
over the " confessionary," by which is probably meant 
the sedilia. A coat of arms, incised in the stone, has 
three lozenges, a crescent for difference. A member 
of this family, Dr. Charles Balguy, is buried in S. 
John's church, Peterborough. The same shield is on 
a tablet to his memory, and on it the field is, or, and 
the lozenges, azure. The inscription is : — 

p. M. s 

Hio ivzta sitys est Thomas Balgay S.T.B. 

Bector hTivs Ecols per xx annos 
Obijt 160. Maij. ^tatis bvs 58. Dm. 1653. 

Beliota posuit msstisuma Maria. 

7. Near the last : — 

Katharine 

Late Wife of 

Bowland Hunt D.D. 

Here interred 

Mar. 2d, 1760. 

8. Near the last : — 

Here Also 
Is deposited all that 

was Mortal 

Of the late BeFerend 

Bowland Hunt 

D.D: 

Upwards of Fifty Tears 

Bector 

Of this Church. 

He was Beleased from 

A long State of 

Fain & Su£fering : 

Septr. the 18th. 

1785: 

In the 77tt»: Year 

of his Age. 



36 
g. Near the last : — 

Rowland 

Son of Bowland & 

Mary Hunt 

Born Febry. 9th 1762 

Died April 5th 1762. 

10. On oval brass near the last : — 

John 

Shukburgh Gapron 

died xriii SepU. mdoooxlyii 

agedxzzii. 

Blessed be his memory. 

11. On a brass by the last : — 

+ Martha 

the . beloved . Wife . of 

George . Capron . Esq. 

bom . the . 22nd. of Not'. 1784 

in . peace . the . 13th. of . March . 1864 

12. On a tablet on the south wall is this coat of 
arms : — On a chevron argent three mullets sable, 
between gules, two lions rampant combatant, and 
azure a cross fleurie or. Crest, A demi-man in 
armour, in his dexter hand a dart transposed, all 
proper. Motto, Vigilate et orate. And this inscription 
beneath a labarum between Alpha and Omega :— 

Sacred to the memory of 

Thomas Capron gent, late of this parish, 

and formerly of the town of Northampton 

who departed this life July 4th. 1829, aged 81. 

And Elizabeth his relict, (daughter of John Lucas esqrs. 

of Nortoft manor, and niece of sir Thomas Ward of Guilsborough hall) 

who died February 24th. 1832, aged 80. 

The chief characteristics of this mutually attached couple respectiyely were 

manners simple and unaffected— a heart overflowing with philanthropy, 

a mind exempt from every trace of selfishness, 

united to exemplary resignation under a series of prirations and afflictions. 

George Capron, 

son of the above-named Thomas and Elizabeth, 

(now lord of the manor of Stoke Doyle,) 

caused this tablet to be erected, as a memorial 

of their virtues and Ms affection. 



37 

13. On a tablet in the south wall, near the last, 
with the arms carved, but not painted : — 

+ 

In memory of 

George CaproD, 

of Southwick, Esquire, 

who died in the 90th. year of his age, 

1872, August 24th. 

and of Martha, his wife, 

who died in the 80^* year of her age, 

1864, March 18th. 

also of John Shukburgh Capron, 

their son, 

formerly lieutenant in the 

28J^. regiment «* Royal Webh Fusileers " 

who died in the SSrd* year of his age, 

1847, September 18th. 

" As in Adam all die, even so in Christ 

shall all be made ali^e." 

14. On a tablet on the north wall : — 

In memory of 

the BeTd. John Shillibeer. M.A. 

rector of this parish 

and master of the 

grammar school at Oundie. 

who died April 8rd. 1841. 

in the LY. year of his age. 

15. On a tablet on the north wall, bearing a 
crest, a hound sejant, a cross erect behind him, with 
the motto, Militat in sylvis : — 

Edward Hunt, 

formerly lieutenant 

Irt. or grenadier regt- Bombay native infantry, 

died at Saltara, Mahableshwur hills, 

June 21rt. 1854, aged 62 years. 

Second surviving son of 

the revd. Edward Hunt, 

late rector of Stoke Doyle and Benefield, 

in this county. 



38 

1 6. On a small square black slab in floor of 
nave : — 

M". Mtti-j Wells: 

Widow of ye late Reyd. 

Mr* Francis Wells: 

Vicar of Oandle. 

T)ied much lamented 

Deobr. ye. 4th. 1762 

Aged LX. 

In the churchyard, near the east wall of the 
church, is an ecclesiastical efBgy of much interest. 
It has a full length figure with hands clasped in prayer, 
and on the left wrist is a maniple ; but there are no 
other indications of eucharistic dress. The figure is 
clothed in a long dress reaching to the feet, very wide 
about the neck. The round moulding of the edges is 
worked over the head into a low canopy. 

In the churchyard are several headstones and 
table monuments of the 1 7th century. One or two are 
here given : — 

17. Here lyeth the body of Ann 

Wells late wife of Edward 

Welis : who departed this life 

the 9 of Feb lt$51 

18. Hanna y« Wife of John 

Steuens Departed 

March y« 26th 1684 

19. Here Lyeth the Body of 

Ann ye Wife of William 

Steuens Who Dep this 

Life May 16 1730 in 

the 90 year of Her age. 

20. Here Lieth ye Body of 

John Steuens Senior 

Departed January ye 

Second 1680 

21. Here also lieth the Body of William 

Stevens, Who Departed this Life 

Apr. 80. 1718 Aged 71 Years 

Farewell vain World I know enough of thee 

And now am Careless what thon sayst of me 



39 

Two lines follow, nearly illegible. The last line 
begins with " Looking." The last 4 inscriptions are 
on one table monument. 

22. Here lyeth the bodj of 
John Rogiars grosser 
of Stoke Doyle who departed 
this life the 30th of 
September in the yeare of 
OFr Lord 1674 

On the floor of the private chapel, north of the 
chancel, is a slab at the entrance of the vault thus 
inscribed : — 

No Space Left in this Vanlt Oolr. 17th. 1825. 

On the front of the western gallery is this : — 

This Gallery 

was erected by 

Geo® : Capron Esq"*. : 

A.D. 1844. 
Who also gave L200 
for the benefit of the 
poor of the Parish. 



On different parts of the rectory are dates of 
various alterations. A large handsome bay window, 
embattled, was put up by rector Balguy. Above it is 
carved 1633 T B. On the dining room is inscribed 
1731 ; in another place, 1770; and on the east side 
E H 1 790. A stone coffin, broken, is in the grounds ; 
as well as the base of the churchyard cross. At a 
distance of about a mile is a chalybeate spring, which 
rises into a stone bason, traditionally said to be the 
font from the old church. 



40 

Zfif Bells. 

The following account of the bells is extracted from 
North's Church Bells of Northamptonshire : — 

S. RuMBOLD. 5 Bells. 

1. -t- THO ;. EAYRE -»• O O O -f- KETTERING ^ ^ ANNO 

DOMINI MDCCXXVII O O O O 
(Diam. 28^ in.) 

2. -». O O O 4- THO : 4- EAYRE -*- DE -*- KETTERING -»• 

O O O 4- FECIT -»- ANNO 4- DOMINI -4- 1727. 
(Diam. 29J in.) 

3. -». THO : EAYRE -»• O O O 4- KETTERING ^ O O i i • 

ANNO DOMINI MDCCXXVII -4-0000000 
(Diam. 31 in.) 

4. THOMAS EAYRE -»-4- OOO -»-4- DE KETTERING 

-4- O O 4- FECIT ANNO DOMINI MDCCXXVII O 
(Diam. 34 in.) 

5. -»- O O O O 4- THOMAS EAYRE -»- O O 4- DE KETTERING 

-4-0 4- CAMPANARIUS ANNO DOMINI -^. O 4- 
MDCCXXVII. 

(Diam 38^ in.) 

In 1552 the (now imperfect) Inventory from this parish 
recorded : 

" Itm iij great bells 8e a lytic bell. 

Itm iiij gret Bellf & a Sans bell sold to John iiij^ f W* 

y« Towneshype ys chargyd w* " 

Previous to their being recast in 1727 two of the old 
bells were cracked and the whole " untuneable," as we 
learn from the following extract from a MS. Book of Stoke 
Doyle Church : 
" Mem**"" 

The five bells (two of them being crack'd, & y«rest Untuneable) 
were all new Cast in the Winter 1727, And in the Begining of Sume^ 
1728 they were hung up in the Steeple in New Frames, And about the 
same time a New Clock provided & placed in y« said Steeple 5 All at y* 
ex pence of E. W. Esqr.'* * 

* Kindly communicated to me by Mr. John Taylor, of Northampton. 



41 

The " E. W. Esq." was Edward Ward, Esq. (son of 
T.ord Chief Baron Ward, the purchaser of the Lordship in 
1694), who was owner of the Manor, of the greater part of 
the Lordship, and of the Advowson. 

The Gleaning-bell during harvest is occasionally rung. 

At the Death-knell five tolls are given for a man, four 
for a woman, three for a child, on each of the four first 
bells, after which the knell is rung on the tenor. 

On Sunday the 2nd bell is rung at 8 a.m. ; for Divine 
Service the bells are chimed and the tenor afterwards rung 
as a Sermon-bell. At the conclusion of Morning Service 
the 2nd bell is rung. 



42 



3tetter from t|ie ICteb 3f. Z. ISttrt 

The Rectory, Stoke Doyle. 

Oundle. 

Oct. 2, 1882. 
Dear Sir, 

Accept my thanks for your courtesy in 
having acquainted me with your intention to publish 
documents relating to the re-building of the Church 
of this parish in 1722, and in having furnished me 
with a " proof " of the pamphlet. The documents 
speak for themselves, and admit of no correction by 
me. 

It may be well, however, that note should be 
made of three items in which the building of the new 
Church was not quite in accord with the requirements, 
and indeed with the licence, of the Bishop. 

i. There is no Porch, and no proper " Portico," 
at the Church Door. 

ii. There is no " Postern Door from y® Church 
Yard into y* Chancell, for y" convenience of y" 
Minister as in all other Churches." 

iii. There is no " small Apartment allotted out 
of y Family Isle for a vestry, &c." 

What the Bishop called "V Family Isle" has 
been re-built as a Mortuary Chapel, with an opening 
from the Chancel protected by Iron Gates. This Side 
Chapel is used as a vestry. It may be added, that no 
" exact copies of all the inscriptions on Monuments 
and Grave-Stones, and descriptions of Coats, &c., in 
Windows," is to be found among the parish records. 



43 

Neither is there among these records any " Book 
in gQod paper well bound," which the Bishop directed 
the Rector to " prepare " " and enter into it y* Coppies 
of such instruments as shall pass in order, for takeing 
away y* Old Church & Erecting y* New Church." 

The thoughtful care of the Bishop White Kennet 
in giving these detailed instructions to the Rector, and 
the precision with which they were given, may not be 
without use in admonishing other rectors of other 
Churches when they are restored, altered, or re-built, 
to have accurate plans or descriptions drawn up of 
everything that is altered or destroyed, and to take 
care that these records are deposited safely in 
duplicate, one copy with the parish records, and one 
with muniments of the Diocese, as the Bishop enjoined 
in this case. 

In the letter of the Bishop to the Rector, the 
Reverend J. Yorke, there is a P.S. in which the 
following sentence occurs : — 

'' Nor need I recom'end to you y* Opportunity & Advantage you 
may have of bringing y' People to a more strict Conformity in 
Kneeling, standing, makeing Responses &c better perhaps y° you 
could well do at a great distance from you in y* Church." 

How far " Y* People " knelt, stood, and made 
responses, in the Old Church we have no means of 
knowing; and therefore we cannot judge whether the 
pious hope of the Bishop has been verified, that they 
would do these things better in the new Church. The 
parishioners now universally observe the rubrics which 
enjoin standing. The responses also are generally 
made. But whatever the seats may have been in the 
old, certainly the pews in the new give no encourage- 



44 

ment to kneeling. These pews are so high that the 
worshipper can hardly do more than pretend to kneel 
by resting the knees half way to the ground upon a 
high stool or hassock. But high hassocks and stools 
are costly for a poor congregation, and this posture is 
not reverent kneeling. When any do kneel in these 
boxes they are shut in by themselves, and shut out 
from all that would impress them with the conscious- 
ness that they are " in the midst of the Congregation," 
in the House of God, and in the Divine Presence. 

The dedication of the Church is of interest. It 
is dedicated to the infant Saint Rumbald. This infant 
Saint was son of a Prince, afterwards King of 
Northumbria. His mother was a daughter of Penda, 
the last heathen King of the Mercians. She was 
Kyneburga, the sister of Peada, the royal founder of 
the Abbey of Medeshamstead. This Princess became 
a Christian before her marriage; and it may be 
assumed that this infant was the first child of the 
marriage, as his birth is fixed as early as A.D. 626. 
He is said by one account to have been born on the 
3rd day of November, and to have died three days 
old, November 5. 

There is fabulous legend mixed up with the 
memorial of this child ; but the main facts of his 
birth, his parentage, his baptism, and his early death 
are historical. The name of the Bishop who baptized 
him, and of the Priest who was his godfather, and who 
buried him, are on record. " He was baptized by 
Widerin, a Bishop ;" and his godfather was " the 
holy priest Eadwold." It may be assumed that his 
canonization was only local ; and we may reject the 



45 

fabulous report of his having spoken, and asked to be 
baptized, without taking away from him the saintly 
character of his baptized and infant purity. It is easy 
to hold up the credulity of an age which began to 
believe by believing too much to the ridicule of an 
age which ends by believing too little. But it is not 
generous to do this, and it is not wise. 

The village Feast is to this day kept on the 
Sunday after the 3rd of November; but the reason 
for this date of the Feast had passed out of memory ; 
it had been supposed that the Church was dedicated 
to All Saints. We have here therefore an example of 
the tenacity of traditional usage. 

Possibly you would be glad to append to your 
publication photographs of the two Churches. I 
therefore send one of the new Church, and a large 
drawing of the old, prepared for me by a friend, an 
architect, Mr. Horace Field, from a pencil drawing by 
the Rev. J. Shillibeer, Rector of the parish from 1833 
to 1 84 1, and Master of Oundle School. You will be 
able to have the size of the Drawing reduced in a 
photograph. 

It may, I think, be inferred with probability that 
local interest in the memory of the infant Saint would 
have passed away if it had not been enshrined in the 
Church very soon after his birth and death ; and 
therefore, that the Church of this parish was founded 
early in the 7th Century. In the petition to the 
Bishop which you are about to publish, the old build- 
ing is described as " a very ancient fabric." But the 
drawing of it shows it to have been of a much later 
date than the 7th Century. The probable conclusion 
IS that it had replaced one much older, if not' two. 



46 

It is impossible to look on this picture and on that, 
and not deplore that the one building could have been 
pulled down for the purpose of replacing it by the 
other. The documents which you are about to 
publish show that this was done on the joint petition 
of the Lord of the Manor and of the Rector, on the 
recommendation of the Episcopal Commissioners, and 
with the full approval of the Bishop of the Diocese : 
and they did it with their eyes open, for they had the 
plan of the new Building before them. There could 
hardly be more striking evidence how completely the 
disastrous conflicts of the preceding century had 
crushed out of all classes. Churchmen and laymen 
alike, love of the beautiful, and sense of the precious- 
ness of those historical buildings which link together 
the Church of the present and the Church of the past. 

Mr. T. Beal, a local antiquarian of Oundle, 
(whose recent death is much lamented,) a few days 
before his last illness reported a conversation with his 
father, who had stated that he remembered conversing 
with one of the masons employed in building the new 
Church at Stoke ; and the mason told him that a 
quantity of the materials of the Old Building had 
been buried in a hole in the Churchyard. 

Two Notes to the Description of Monuments, 
&c., p. 1 8, throw light upon this conversation. 

It appears that there was a kind of Crypt under 
the old Chancel, "about 9 or lo feet of it," and also 
a Vault at the East End of " the Old North Isle,'' 6 
or 8 feet long. Now as the Old Building was 92 feet 
long, and the New is only 61 feet, and the reduction 
in length was made at the East End, the old vault 



47 

under the Chancel is now in the Churchyard. There 
are therefore lying underground the relics of the 
building that was destroyed — broken windows, broken 
shafts, broken capitals, and the fragments of the 
beautiful Arch over the South door. 

Is it too much to hope that the Northamptonshire 
Archaeological Society, and the wealthy inhabitants of 
the diocese will some day exhume these relics, and 
restore what was so ruthlessly destroyed? Or, it 
would be better still if they would build a Church here 
in pure Saxon style to be a thank-offering from this 
age for the conversion of this part of England, the 
home of Chaucer, and to be a fitting cradle for the 
memory of the first Christian prince born in the 
Kingdom of Mercia- 

In the meanwhile, till this is done, we shall be 
thankful for contributions towards making the building 
we have, and must for the present be content with, a 
little more consistent with its holy use and its hallowed 
memories. 

I am, dear sir, 

Your faithful and obliged servant, 
J. T. Burt. 
Mr. John Taylon 

P.S. — Since I have had an opportunity of inspecting the manu- 
script from which the documents relating to the building of Stoke 
Doyle Church have been taken, I am satisfied that it is the actual 
book prepared by rector Yorke in obedience to the Bishop's direction. 
The handwriting has been compared with his entries in the register 
and found to be the same. This is especially noticeable in the initials 
J. y. On the cover of the book, moreover, can be distinctly traced 
the name Yorke, although it has been partially erased. The volume 
must have been accidentally removed amongst his private papers after 
his death. 

April, 1883. 



J 




gin "^emoriam. 



The Rev. Thomas Arnold. 



5B&e PHunetal at ^cirti^amptcin anb i3Elemcinal 

jSerfjicfg at ®cibbrlbfie 

anb :fi>0t)brtbge X^emcirtal ^j^urcfyes. 



^/Zff' PORTRAIT AND FACSIMILE AUTOGRAPH. 



NORTHAMPTON : 

Taylor & Son, The Dryden Press, 9, College Street. 

1897. 




[^From the ^^Northampton Mercury*^ January 22 and 29, 1897.] 



-J^^ 




THOMAS ARNOLD. 



pastor, %tu}ict, Juit^fli. 



The Bev. Thomas Arnold, fonaeny for twenty-twa 
years pastor of Doddridge Church, Northampton, 
passed into his rest on January 21st, 1897, at the ad- 
vanced age of 80. Th3 Bi-centenarv Celebration in 
October of 1885 of the erection of tte chapel really 
marked the acme of his life. Into those proceedings 
he threw all the ardour of his heart and soul. Not 
long afterwards he began to feel more than usual th& 
weight of his advancing years and the exhaustion 
consequent upon a long and vigorous life. Though, 
able generally to get about, and, when occasion de- 
manded it, to occupy the pulpit at Doddridge Chapel, 
it was evident to his friends that he was gradually 
and surely losing his strength, and that his life's 
work was really over. The unfriendly autumn of 1&9& 
had its effect upon his health, and at first mtermit- 
tently, and then permanently, he was compelled to 
keep to his house, then to his room, and finally to 
his bed. Throughout all he never lost his interest in 
the cause at Doddridge, and never forgot the claims 
and demands of the deaf and dumb. Indeed, as the 
end approached, these were almost the sole object of 
his thought.s, and he pondered and worked out 
methods of still further perfecting the oral system of 
their education. Towards the end, in the intervals 
of consciousness, he spoke lovingly of those for whom 
he had devoted his hfe, and hopefully of the call of 
the Master. He became unconscious some time before 
the end, and died peacefully and happily early on 
Thursday morning, January 21st. Mrs. Arnold, his 
only relative surviving him, was at that time lying 
seriously ill, but she has since recovered. 



THE FUNERAL. 

The funeral took place in bleak' and cold weather 
in Northampton General Cemetery on Monday, 
January 25th. The first part of the service was con- 
ducted in Doddridge Chapel, whither the body was 
conveyed at eleven in the morning from the deceasbd's 
late residence, 27, St. Paul's-road. The funeral car 
containing the coffin was followed by the private car- 
nage of Mr. Joseph Jeffery, J. P., and contained Mr. 
Jeffery (representing Doddridge Church and congrega- 
tion), ' Mr. George Higgins (representing the Sunday 
school), and Mr. W. D. Mayger and Mr. Alfred Jones 



(representing the Tmstees and Chapel Committee). 
The coffin was handsomely made of polished oak in 
two ooioors, with brass fittings, and bore on the name 
plate the inscription: 

Thomas Abnold. 
Died Januabt ZIst, 1897. 
In the Slst Tear of his Age. 
The mourners, and other friends of the deceased, as- 
sembled at Doddridge Chapel in the afternoon for the 
service at half-past two. The place was crowded. 
The white and gold pulpit was heavily draped in black 
by Mr. Jeffery, who sent the handsome flowers by 
which it was adorned. The flowers on the platform 
were sent by Mrs. Jonathan Bobinson, deaconess. 

The crowded congregation included the Mayor of 
Northampton (Alderman H. E. Randall, J. P.), who oc- 
cupied a seat on the platform; the Bev. J. J. Cooper, 
Doddridge; Bev. George Nicholson, B.A., formerly of 
King-street; Rev. P. H. Smith, College-street; Rev. 
W. B. Sleight, St. Katharine's ; Rev. G. Parkin, M.A., 
B.D., Kettering-road Primitive Methodists; Rev. H. L. 
Matson, Victoria- rood ; Rev. Thomas Neale, Doddridge 
Memorial Chapel ; Rev. T. Martin, Northampton ; Rev. 
S. ]Seedham, Graf ton-street ; Rev. F. T. Smythe, 
Mount Pleasant; Rev. J. Fagle, Artizan-road ; Rev. 
George Bardow, Gold-street Wesleyans ; Bev. H. J. 
Huffadine, Commercial-street; Rev. C. S. Larkman, 
King-street ; Rev. Henry Bradford, Union Chapel ; Bev. 
Joseph Walker, Providence Chapel; Bev. S. B. Wood- 
hall, Horsemarket) Primitives ; Bev. J. Whinoup, Begent- 
square Wesleyans ; Bev. T. Stephens, B.A., Welling- 
borough; Bev. E. Darley, Towcester ; Bev. A. Dennis 
Jellery, London, formerly of Doddridge; Bev. S. 
Hall, Creaton; Bev. M. E. Parkin, Rushden; Bev. J. 
M. Watson, Kettering; Bev. W. V. Phillips, Hackle- 
ton; Bev. T. Bustcn, Long Buckby; Bev. W. Ed- 
wards, Kilsby; Mrs. Bell, sister to Mrs. Arnold; Miss 
Bell, ndece to Mrs. Arnold; Miss WiLson, adopted 
daughter of the deceased; Miss Westbury, an old ser- 
vant to the deceased; Mr. A. Farrer, St. Leonard's- 
on-Sea; Mr. A. Farrer, junr. (London University), 
St. Leonards-on-Sea, formerly pupil; Mr. Bobert 
Levitt, Leeds ; Mr, A. Levitt, Leeds, formerly pupil ; 
Mr. W. S. Bessant, Head Master of the Manchester 
School for the Deaf and Dumb; Mr. James Howard, 
Doncaster Institution for the Education of Deaf 
Mutes ; Mr. M. Friedeberger, private tutor of 
the deaf and dumb, London; Mr. H. N. Dixon, 
M.A., suocesdor to Bev. T. ArnoWj in the Nortinampton 
Deaf and Dumb School; Mr. Jeflfery Clark, represent- 
ing his father, Mr. J. H. Clark, Market Harborough, 
PreFiden't of the Nor<thainptoiusihire Union- of Oooigrega- 
tional Churches; Mr. Charles Bod'house, J. P., C.A., 
Daventr^', Ex-Presid^mt of ihe Union-; Mr. H. P. 
Markiham, D.L., Sedgebpook ; Mr. C A. Markham, 
Spra'tboni; Mr. Townsend, head masiter of the Deaf 
arad Dumb Institute", Birmingham; Mr. J. W. Fisher, 
LondJon Board School for the Deaf and Dumb, and 
formerly pupil of Mr. Arnold; Mr. A. McCrindle, 
Mr. J. Whibford, Mr. G. Higgins, Mr. Joseph Jeffery, 
J. P., Mai. S. Fiacea-, Mr. H. Wilson, Mr. E. T. ' 
Treaiery, Mr. G. C. Latimer, and) Mr. A. Smith, 
deacons Doddridge Church ; Mr. W. D. Mayger andi Mr. 
J. Allien, representing the Trusitees and. Commi'btee; 
Mr. J. Adams, Mr. W. Evams, Mr. E. Evans^ Mr. F. 
W. Green, Mr. A. Jones, Mr. E. Lewis, Mr. J. 



Marlow, Mr H. Marsihall; Mr. E. Nidhols, Mr. J. 
Parker, Mr. T. Pitts, Mr. J. P. Kobiivson, Mr. E. Tye, 
committee of Doddridge Churcb; Mr. T. Joneis and 
Mr. Luther Jackson, sidesmen; Mr. Henry Cooper, 
Mr. W. Tye, Mr. John Perry, Mr. J. Fairey, Mr. C. 
H. Battle, Mr. Edward Bird, Mr. J. T. Par- 
ker, Mr. Arnold Jeffery, Mr. John Higgins, Dodd- 
ridge Church; Mr. S. S. Oampion^ J. P., Mr. H. 
Fox, Commercial-s;treet ; Mr. G. M. Tebbutt, J. P., 
Mr. B. Timms, Mr. John Brice, Mr. E. Kemiard, Mr. 
G. Longland, Mr. F. Riecke, Mr. John Taylor, Mr. H. 
BerriU, College-street ; Mr. T. Margetts, Mr. John 
Wi]»oi», Mr. S. McCullagh, Mr. Josiah Smith, Mr. J. B. 
Goodman, Mr. Joseph Rusihtoii!, Goid-s>treet ; Mr. W. 
BiUdng'ham, Mr. A. P. Hawtin, Mr. Jesse Adddngton, 
Mr. F. Pentelow, Mounib Pleaaant; Mr. W. D. Crick, 
Mr. G. W. Souster, King-street; Councillor Thiomas 
Purser, Mr. B. Wiggins, Mr. T. Ward, Prince's-streeb ; 
Mr. S. Beattie, Mr. G. W. Beattde, Mr. D. Sher- 
TveU, Mr. J. Baird, Regent- square; Alderman T. 
Wethereil, Queen's-road Wesleyans ; Mr. T. G. Briitten, 
Mr. J. H. Jackson, Mr. A. Smith, Mr. J. Hollingjsworth, 
Mr. T. Cox, Kettering - road' Primitive Metho- 
dflsts"; Mr. J. T. Joihnsion, Mr. Thomas Churoh, 
Mr. Johnf Jones, Mr. R. Murtoni, Grafton- 
sJtreeb; Mr. J. A. Bradford, Mr. Joihn Rymill, Mr. 
George Wilson, Mr. Charles' W. Moore, Union Chapel ; 
Mr. Henry Wooddug, Mr. R. Martin, Mr. A. E. BerriU, 
Mr. F. F. Wilkins, Mr. B. Barton, Victoria-road; Mr. 
T. Whitford, Horsemarket; Mr. F. Bates', Sunday- 
«chool Union ; Mr. S. Oram, Kings'thorpe-holkyw ; Mr. J. 
Whlifcflopd St. Jame»s<'-eiwl; M'r. M. Jeiffery, Great 
Houghton Church; Mr. J. F. Eady, Oreaton Church; 
Mr. Edmund Law, Mr. J. W. West, Mr. E. Btilling- 
ton, Mr. J. Norton, Mr. H. T. Aiiderson, Mr. I. 
Cotton, Mr. J. Masom, Mr D. Mace, etc., etc. The 
Rev. G. Parkin, Rev. H. L. Mats-an, Alderman T. 
Wetherefl, and Mr. F. Perkims represented^ the Free 
Churoh Council. 

The handsome wreaths' upon the ooflSn, and' placed 
al90 on tihe platform and pulpit, were sesnt by the 
Pastor and Deacons of Doddridge Ohurch; the Ohurch 
and Congregation; the Superinitendeii'ts and Teachers 
of Doddridge Sunday Schools; Doddridge Ohurch 
Ohodr; Congregation of Doddridge Memorial Church, 
St. J-ames'-end! ; Teachers of the Manchester School of 
the Deaf and Dumb; Miss L. Robinson; Mrs-. George 
Jeffery; Mr. and Mrs. F. Marsihall; Mr. and Mrs. 
J. H. Gtark and family, Market Harborough; Mr. 
and Mrs. Mayger and family ; Mrs. Barton and family ; 
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Levitt; Mrs-. Noyets and family, 
Medboume and Sydney; Miss Hardoaistle, London 
(formerly pupil) ; Mr. and Mrs". Bessant ; Mrs. W. 
Swallow, Wesiton FaveU Rectory ; Mr. and Mrs. Farrer, 
Londion. 

The impressiT© service was commenced by the read- 
ing of suitable verses of Scripture Dy the Rev. Thomas 
Gasquoine, which were immediately (followed by a 
short address by the Pastor of the Church, the Rev. 
J.J. Cooper. Mr. Cooper said: We have met to-day 
to do borour to a good man. He is not here, He is 
risen. That was said' of the Lord, whom lie served 
with heroic devotion. It now must be said of him 
he is not here, hence this drapery, hence tbis gloom, 
hence this sadneiss in our hearts. He is not here. 
We have lost so much in losing him, for his life had 
#0 many sddes-. It was> a beautiful mosaic, and' the 



Iflow of beaT»nly grace "wa» over ai' tbafc he <Kd. 
He is not liere, but his memorials are here. This 
chapel vfB£ enlapfred to make room for his ministry. 
When he came Qt)d came -with him, breathed the 
breath of His life through the ministry of his word, 
and he needed more room. And it wa^ to find room 
for hdm that thisi building was enlarged. His memor- 
ial to-day is in the living Church, quickened by his 
ministry. We have those amongst us still to whom 
he was' a very messenger of God, Who spoke through 
his lips, and they received his words, and they liv^, 
and' CKre at work to-day- His memorial is with us, and 
bi-s work is with us. On the subject of which he was 
master, he carried the sorrow of the deaf mutes, 
struggled with their difficulties, overcame their ob- 
stacles, sorrowed with their sorrow, and at last b& re- 
joiced in their joys. He ds not here, but the memoitials 
of him are ever present. We shall never forget him, 
we who kinew him. One rarely meet« with e man of 
such fineness of nature, with such largeness of heart. 
He was so inwardly true that he hated and abhorred 
everything that was hollow, mean, selfish. He lived for 
others, the spirit of Jesus Ohrisb was in hdm, and' like 
his Master with the peculiar gifts of his richiy endowed 
nature he made the dumb to speak. Within these last 
few weeks he told me he had gob a clue to some fresh 
facts on which he hoped to build a theory to help the 
deaf blind. He had got hold of somethrin^ that he 
thought he could work out into helpfulness to those 
who are blind and deaf. But Grod said to ham, "It is 
enough, come up higher." Well has he filled his four 
score years with beautiful Christian work, and he has 
gone where he wanted to go. He is not here ; he is 
risen. This body of his was too small for the largeness 
of his mind and heart. Now he has burst the bands 
asunder, and he has risen. Thomas Arnold is with his 
Lord and Master. He has risen from the limitations of 
this earthly ]!ife, risen from all the imperfections to 
which flesh is heir, eutd sorrow, temptation, and pain. 
He fell asleep that he might awake m His likeness. 
The banner has dropped from hda hands. Brothers, 
we can best honour him by holding up that banner 
and carrying it on as he did. Let us be more pdtiful 
to the distressed. Let us be larger in our charity, 
mora generous in our thoughts, more Christ-like in our 
work, and so and in no better way shall we honour the 
memory of our sainfted father, brother, friend. He is 
not here ; he is risen. It is no new life upon which he 
has entered. This life was in him all along. He has 
simply entered dnto the larger sphere where this 
divirae life which was in him h'as freer play 
and finer opportunities. The life of God. was 
in him. WJe coujid aU <aee it, and hear it, and 
feel it. To be dn his company was like .being in 
a purer atmosphere ; to listen to his speech was to 
be stimulated in all that was fair and beautiful. His old 
age was frosty, but kindly, for ho never abused his 
bcdy. He was pure as a boy. He was pure as a young 
man. He was pure aU through his life; and he said 
just a little while before he passed away, « I feel that 
my work is at an end^ but I have no fear of the results.'* 
And ycu can fancy him saying it, some of you, " I have 
no fear of the results." No, the divdne life was in him, 
and that was the secret of his toil, the secret of his in- 
genuity in working for his afflicted brothers and sisters. 
It was God in the man speaking through the man, giving 
cunning to the intellect and patience to the heart ; so 



that he laboured to promote the welfare of others. 
And after all he had done he was like a child in its 
mctber's amis : so little conscious of havinj? done any- 
thing worthy of observation. Again and again he said 
that people spoke too much in his praise, the language 
was too strong. So he thought, and so he felt, for with 
his greatness there was beautiful humility, and even in 
his old age the glow of the morning was in his heart ; 
and now he is risen. Brothers, sisters, in the presence 
of this deoKl body shall we consecrate ourselves afresh 
to the life which God has given us, and say, " This good 
man has lived by the grace of Him who redeemed both 
him and me, and I wiui give my service to Jesus Christ 
and to the afflicted amongst men " ; and so we shall 
honour our dear brother Thomas Arnold. 

An effective prayer was offered by the Eev. George 
Nicholson, and the hymn was sung commencing — 

Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings, 

Thy better portion trace ; 
Eise from transitory things 

Towards Heaven, thy native place. 

and ending with the lines — 

Cease, ye piigrdms, cease to mourn, 

Press onward to the prize : 
Soon your Saviour will return 

Triumphant in the skies. 
Yet' a season, and we know 

Happy entrance will be given. 
All our sorrows left below 
And earth exchanged for Heaven. 
The Bev. Dennis Jeffery followed with a short prayer, 
and the Eev. P. H. Smith concluded with the Bene- 
diction. 

The cortege was then formed outside the church in 
the following order, but many in the chapel were 
unable, on account of the snowstorm and cold, to take 
part in it: — Chapel Committee and sidesmen; Sunday- 
school teachers ; members of the Church and congre- 
gation; deputations from various Churches, the hearse 
and coffin, accompanied by the honorary bearers: — 

Mr. James Westbury I vL Mr. Thcmas Pitta 

Mr. John Fisher \\ // Mr. P. Kinch 

[Mr. J. Adams \\ // Mr. A. Tyaoe 



Nineteen coaches, including six with the relatives and 
friends of the deceased, and deacons and officers of the 
Church ; the Mayor's carriage, with himself inside ; 
and the carriages of Mr. J. Jeffery, Mrs. Marshall, 
Mrs. Howard, Mr. AUen, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Levitt, and 
Mrs. Forsythe. The long procession proceeded by way 
of Doddridge- street, Marefair, Gk>ld-street, and Billing- 
road to the Cemetery. 

The service at the graveside was brief but impres- 
sive. The Eev. J. J. Cooper commenced it with a few 



appropriate passages of Scripture, the Bey. T. Stephens, 
B.A., oflered a touching prayer, and the Bev. W. B. 
Sleight, vicar of St. Katharine's, pronounced the Bene- 
diction. The followers then passed round the grave in 
single file to take ** a last look." 

Amongst those present, in addition to those ivhose 
names have been already given, were the Bev. Canon 
Hughes, M.A., Bector of Hardingstone ; Bev. F. H. 
Wood; Bev. J. Bateman, Queen's-road ; Dr. A. H. 
Jones, Dr. Milligan, deceased's medical attendant ; 
Mr. J. H. Fletcher, Mr. O. Harrison, etc. 

The funeral arrangements were carried out through- 
out by Mr. Joseph Jeffery and Mr. Gheorge Higgins, 
Mr. Johnson acting for Mr. Jeffery, of Gold-street, and 
Mr. Evans for Messrs. J. and Q. Higgins. The coffin 
was made by Mr. Jeffery. The funeral car and mourn- 
ing coaches were suppUed by Mr. S. Frisby, Market- 
square. 

Letters and telegrams regretting inability to be 
present were received from the Bev. J . Oates, Bev. Wm. 
Butler, Ashley; Bev. J. P. Kingsford, Oundle; Bev. 
George Sadler, Fbore; Bev. W. E. Coupland, Yardley 
Hastings; Bev. W. £. Morris, Market Harborough; 
Bev. J. T. Brown, Northampton; Bev. J. Hamnul, 
Weldon; Bev. J. Thomson, Toller Congregational 
Church, Kettering; Bev. A. Laishley, Brdgwtock; Dr. 
W. B. Boe, Head Master of the Midland Deaf and Dumb 
Institute; Mr. Bichard Elliott, Asylum for the Edu- 
cation of the Deaf and Dumb Children of the Poor, 
London and Margate ; Mr. F. G. Adnitt, J.P., and Dr. 
Stainer, who telegraphed, " Bev. Dr. Stainer, of Lon- 
don, is unable to attend the funeral, but desires to ex- 
press deep sympathy on behalf of himself and members 
of the College of Teachers of the Deaf and Dumb, of 
which the late Bev. Thomas Arnold was a vice-presi- 
dent." After the funeral, tea was provided ini the 
Schoolroom for the country friends by the following 
ladies of the congregation : Mrs. Jonathan Bobinson, 
Mrs. Joseph Jeffery, Mrs. S. Facer, Mrs. George Hig- 
gins, Mrs. E. T. Trenery, and Mrs. H. Wilson. 



Pulpit references to the decease of Mr. ATnol-di -were 
made in several of the Free Churches of Northampton 
on the following Sunday. 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE AT 
DODDRIDGE CHURCH. 



A large congregation assembled at the Doddridge 
Congregational Church, on Sunday morning, when the 
pastor (the Bev. J. J. Cooper) preached a sermon bear- 
ing on the life and work of the late Bev. Thomas Arnold, 
■who for 22 years was pastor of the church. The pulpit 
was draped with black by Mr. Joseph Jeffery, J. P., but 
the sombreness was relieved by the effective arrange- 
ment by Miss Nellie Bobinson of some fine arum lilies, 
§iven by Mrs. J. Bobinson, a star of white 
owers. provided by th« church and congrega- 
tion. And two smaU bouquets, given by Mr. 
Jeffery. The organist (Mr. W. Handel Hall) 
played "O Best in the Lord" (EHjah) as a volun- 
tary, and the hymns were all very appropriately chosen. 
At tht) condusio;! of Mr. Cooper's usual address to the 
childnm, the choir, unaccompanird, sang the well-known 
hymn, " Peice, Perfect Peace," the congregation remain- 
ing :«e^ted meanwhile. Mr. Cooper took for his text the 
words, "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto 
me. Write, Blessed are the dead which die in thg.Lord 
from henceforth ; Yea, saith the spirit, that they may 
rest from their labours; and their works do follow 
them" (Bevelations xiv., 13). We hear many voices 
in this book. They are uttered by angels, the ideal 
messengers of God. It is the edho of them we often 
hear in the silence of the soul, pleasant as music, com- 
forting as love, sad as a. dii^e, confusing as a foreign 
toiDgue. One angel preaches the eternal gospel in op- 
position to the witching fables, the perishm^ falsehoods 
of foolish men and wicked spirits; exaltedl above the 
floating 'traditions, the petty interesits of men, he flies 
in the midst of heaven, making his voice beard on 
eari^ exposing the falsehood), dedeiring the truth. 
Another angel proclaims the faU of Babylon), the great 
world-power which obstinately resists and cunnimgiy 
distorts the revelation of grace, and a woe rolls down 
from t^e storm-cloud of wrath. Another ang«(L utters 
the voice of doom, one ol the most terrible ever heard 
on earth, yet there is a purpose of grace in it, for it 
gives timely warning that the retribution of God upon 
the impenitent is an awful reality. Then above the 
storm-dioud, from the peaceful heavens where every- 
tluqg is seen as it really is, comes the consoling voice 
of another angel, setting in visible contrast t!he bleseed 
and the cursed, the bliss of those who bear the brand 
of the Lord Jesus and the woe of tho«e who carry the 
mark of the beast. Blessed are the dead which die in 
the Lord. This is solemnly attested by the Yea of the 
Spirit; they, and only they, rest from their toil, and 
rejoice in their work. Write, for it is eternally true. 
Write, for it is universally true. Write, that all men 
may read it to the end of the Christtian age. Write, 
" Blessed a.re the dead which die in the Lord." To die 
in the Lord is not the same as falling asleep in Jesus 
— though that is involved. lb rather signiifles to die 
with the Lord, and so to die in him : to die as- he died 
after suffering and toil for good of others. They rest 
from labour, and their works — ^that is, their Character 
and life, their word and influence — follow with theni, 
ihat they may eat the fruit of their doings. Another 



8 

angel speaks to us now, once Uie " axtg^" of this 
church. To-da^ we are reminded of another voice, 
mellow as music, the voice of the golden* mouth that 
for 22 years filled this house, now silent because he 
died in the Lord. It was not his purpose to laud and mag- 
nify the xpan; it was not their desire that he should 
do so. No one would protest more strongly than he. 
But such a man ought not to pass away without an at- 
tempt to magnify the grace of God in him, to show the 
lessons of his life, to quicken and uplift our own. He 
belonged to history, to the life of that church, to the 
benevolence of the town, to the wider Christianity of 
the age. He wished to show how grace reigned in Mr. 
Arnold as a man in three departments of his public 
work — as a pastor, a teacher, and an author. 

As A Pastob. 
As a pastor, Mr. Arnold was a good minister of Jesus 
Christ, and he was well bom and highly favoured in the 
surroundings of his childhood. Nurtured in a hon^e of 
fervent piety, bred in a community of virtuous life and 
simple manners, he grew up from infancy in godliness 
of hfe. Grace Hill, where he was bom, was a small 
settlement of 200 acres in the heart of county 
Antrim, in Ireland. It was laid out for comfort, for 
health, for beauty. The Moravian brotherhood culti- 
vated mutual kindness, help in trouble, forgiveness of 
injury. There was no policeman in the settlement to 
arrest, there was no prison to punish offenders. The 
impemtent evil-doer was punished by being expelled 
from the community. That was the atmosphere in 
which Mr. Arnold was raised. No sceptic question or 
doubt ever troubled him in his boyhood, or intervened 
between him and his Heavenly Father. His heart and 
soul accepted Christ as his Saviour, and, thoroughly 
grounded by the Moravian school and) church in the 
saving trutlis of the gospel, he had the assurance that 
he was being saved from the law of sin and death. The 
Holy Spirit was working in him what was well-pleasing 
in God's sight. The bov was father of the man. When 
he first left the quiet abode of Grace H>J11 he came into 
contact with godless young people, and he was tempted 
to join them. But the influence of that Hill of G-race 
was a great power, and he stood like a pyramid amidst 
the enticements of those young people. He became a 
total abstainer, and cultivated the moral courage to say 
'^ No '' to their enticements to drink, to gamble, and 
to other vices. Eager for Christian work, he crossed 
the Channel, and t^ame a city missionary in Man* 
Chester. It was the first time he had seen vice in an 
open form, and it made his heart sink. It was strange, 
it was horrible, and he prayed for another sphere of 
labour. One could see in his beautiful face that not 
a line of it had ever been distorted by vicious indul- 
gence. That was finely illustrated in one of his visits 
to France. He lost his purse, probably some pickpocket 
took advantage of his freedom from suspicion. AH his 
money was gone. He went back to the hotel, told his 
host what had happened, and said, '*If you will lend 
me enough money to get home I will leave my watch 
as security for repayment." His host said, "I will let 
you have what money you want, but keep your watch ; 
I can trust that face." His face was the mirror of his 
soul; his strength was as the strength of ten, because 
his heart was pure. As a pastor he won the heart of 
old and young by the grace of his Hps, by the genius of 
his mind, by the helpfulness of his life. He had no 
wom-out creed to defend; his heart overflowed in his 



ministry of God's grace. His life "was so rich, his powers 
so luxuriant, that in the pulpit he had to hold himself 
in. It was on the platform that one saw the fulness 
and buoyancy of his soul. Advocating civil and religious 
liberty, promoting Christian enterprise, enforcing poli- 
tical duty, he gave free play to his fervent heart and 
his eloquent tongue, elevating the subject to the higher 
levels of Christian thought. That old church had been 
honoured with two rare men in days past. Both of 
them served it for over 20 years. Dr. Doddridge was a 
minister of world-wide fame, and in his own special 
work Dr. Arnold was not a whit behind' ham. 

As ▲ Teacheb. 

But Thomas Arnold would be best remembered by 
posterity as a teacher of deaf mutes. For fifteen 
years, while he was pastor of that Church, he laboured 
at that two-fold task. Either of them was enough 
to fiill the hands of an ordinary man. The Church 
suffered little by his work in the schools, and the 
schools suffered as little by his work in the Church. 
The well-spring of his great heart ran over with 
pitying love for the children of a soundless world. 
He carried their sorrows as Christ carried ours; 
struggled with their difficulties as if they were his, 
and with strange skill he lent them his faculties tiU they 
ooukL use thedr own. He was one of the first teachers 
in England to rely solely on the oral method of teach- 
ing. The first deaf mute he ever saw he tried to 
help. A boy came to Grace Hill to learn a trade, 
and lodged with Mr. Arnold's brother. Mr. Arnold 
learned the sign language that he might talk with 
his afiSicted companion. He saw that the boy could 
not always express his thoughts on his fingers, and 
he was labouring for some outlet for his ideas. 
Mr. Arnold, by the wisdom of God in him, saw at 
once where the difficulty lay, and at once his fertile 
mind suggested ways of helping that boy to ex- 
press his thoughts. He said himself that it was then 
he was baptised to be a teacher of his fellows, though 
he did not know it until years afterwards. In 1M6 
Mr. Cooper went with Mr. Arnold for a holiday in 
Italy, and spent five weeks in close feKowship with 
him. In Paris, where they first stayed, the first 
place they visited was a deaf mute institution. That 
was always first in his thoughts. The next place 
was a second-hand bookshop, and, as a man hunting 
for gold, for hours he was hunting the shelves for 
a book which he thought might be there, and when 
he could not find it he was as distressed as if he had 
lost some precious thing. In the afternoon he went 
back to continue his search for this book on deaf 
mute education, and at last he found it, and, continued 
Mr. Cooper, "I can see him now bringing it home 
through the streets as joyful as if he had got a 
fortune." Talking with him on the tireless patience 
needed in his work, Mr. Arnold said " Yes, before 
I settled down with complete satisfaction I had to 
crucify myself." Mark that. Mr. Cooper thought that 
that was what was meant by dying in the Lftrd. 
Mr. Arnold had crucified himself, and that made him 
a blessed man, made him a blessing. Look at him 
in his early manhood, offered the mastership of an 
institution with j^500 a year, a rare attraction to a 
young man. Much as he loved the work, he refused 
the offer, because he could not honestly teach the 
Church Catechism. Men tried to overcome his 
scruples, and said ** Oh, others do it. You can teach 



to 

others, though yoa do not believe it yourself." He 
said *^No. I must be loyal to my conscience and 
loyal to my Master. I do not believe that Catechism 
is trne, and I "won't teach it." And he lost his 
situation. Nig'ht and day, year after year, he read 
and thought, travelled and enquired, examined and 
compared, that he might do better work, and after 
he was seventy years old learned the Spanish langu- 
age that he might get what the Spaniards had writ- 
ten on his subject. The wrinkles on his brow were 
Tkot the ruts of time, they were the seed furrows 
of thought. He studied the anatomy and physiology 
of the organs of speech and hearing, mastered them, 
saw nerves and muscles given for the purpose of 
speech, knew that the deaf and dumb were not 
taught to use them, found that an important rei^ion 
of the brain was not employed in the higher uses in- 
tended hy God. He then reasoned that as nature 
had provided the organs of speech, the least we could 
do was to give the possession of them, so far as 
their defects would allow, and that was the discovery 
of a new fact and a new principle, and was the first 
time that convincing argument had ever been used m 
defence of oral teaching. Thomas Arnold had been 
aptly compared to Dr. Arnold, of Rugby. They were 
alike in their carefulness of life, in their exceptional 
gifts as instructors of men, in the reverent love they 
won from their pupils. Thomas Arnold had twenty 
pupils under his care. They came to him walking 
in the silence of the grave. He set their imprisoned 
tongues loose ,^ and sent them home to tell the wonder- 
ful story theinselves. One lad was sent him by a 
father who had never heard his boy utter an intelli- 
gible sound. One day the father went to visit him, 
and the boy met his father, held out his hand, and 
•aid "Well, father, how are you?" and the father, 
overcome with wonder and with joy, burst into tears. 
That was the work God enabled him to do. Twenty 
times he repeated that which seemed more like a 
miracle than the result of human skill. 

As AN AUTHOB. 

But Thomas Arnold did more than that, and his 
name and his fame would live as an author. His 
unselfish life was all on a piece. It was like his 
Master's garment, woven without seam from the top 
throughout. His ambition to be an author was <i 
gracious desire to multiply his gift of God and help 
others to teach it. When he began to teach at Don- 
caster his work was specially difficult, for there were 
no books, no lectures, that treated the subject from 
an educational point of view. It was that difficulty 
that made him resolve that if God spared him he would 
write the subject up, and make it easier for others 
than it had been for himself. To carry out that he 
made himself master of the history and philosophy 
of oral teaching. Rare powers were needed for that. 
His books were not written trippingly off the pen; 
they were forged in his own burning heart. They 
reqnir<»d a philosophical mind, untiring resparoh, 
clearness of style, fulness of illustration, and God had 
given him them all, and nobly he used them. If he 
had not made oral teaching easy, as, perhaps, it 
never could be, he had removed many difficulties. 
If he could have done more he would. He could 
not have done what he did for worldly fame, for 
those books of his appealed only to the few; only 
the few could appreciate them. He did not work 



for gain, for after all his teaching and preaching he 
was too poor to publish the book hp had written, 
and the late Pickering Phipps generously helped him 
to pay the cost of printing his works. It was but 
a few weeks ago that be became quite animated as 
he paced his room and told Mr. Cooper that he had 
got a clue to some fresh facts which he hoped to 
work out into a theory, for helping not only the deaf 
and dumb, but the deaf and Wind. How like Christ 
it was. Like Him in another way. When he finished 
his last book he said "That has drained the life 
out of me," and so it proved. With the toil of seventy 
years he was at his desk from early morning till 
late at night, with his mind at the extremest tension. 
With his splendid constitution he might have lived 
long years yet had he taken his ease, but in this toil 
in his old age he was crucifying himself for the well- 
being of others. Did they want a modern proof of 
the truth of G-od's word and the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ? Mr. Cooper pointed them to Thomas Arnold. 
The world could not produce such a man. He could 
not be understood apart from the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ, from the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. 
He had to criticise and to oppose the work of others, 
but there was not an un- Christian word nor an un- 
christian hint in anything that he wrote. He was 
loyal to duty, and he loved God so intelligently that 
he loved mAn, and hdped those first who most needed 
his help. They thanked God that they had known 
such a man, and that they might meet him again 
in the perfect life. He left no dying speech. They 
needed none. Another voice had spoken for him 
"Bles«ed are the dead that die in the Lord from 
henceforth: yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest 
from their labours, for their works follow them." 
He lived by the faith of the Son of God, " who loveth 
us and gave Hinaself for us." To Him Thomas Arnold 
gave himself without reserve, and, as was fitting, 
he was borne to his grave with a crown of Glory on 
his hoary head. "He now," said Mr. Cooper, m con- 
eluding, " sings the song of Moses and the Lamb. 
Sing, beloved brother, for thou hast made many sing on 
earth ; sing, for thou hast beaten the music out of 
thine own brave heart; sinar, for thou hast washed 
thy robes and made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb." — The closing hymn was " Vital Spark, whose 
Heavenly Flame," and at the conclusion of the service 
the " Dead March " in " Saul " was most impressively 
played by the organist, the congregation upstanding. 
In the evening there was another large congrega- 
tion, and the Rev. J. J. Cooper delivered a power- 
ful and impressive sermon having reference to Mr. 
Arnold^ s future existence. Taking as his text 1st 
Corinthians xv., 35, "How are the dead rais-ed up? 
and with what body do they come ?" Mr. Cooper siaid 
that although after death the soul and the body were 
separated, yet the spirit dwelt for ever in a progres- 
sive sphere, wherem Mr. Arnold's most favourite 
work and occupation was likely to be continued, en- 
joyed, and developed. Death was only a separation 
of the mortal and spiritual, and in the unseen world 
his powers must find fuller and more complete em- 
ploy. The solo, "The Redeemed of the Lord Shall 
Return," was admirably rendered by the Choir, under 
the leadership of Mr. H. L. Snedker. All the hynans 
were of an appropriate character, and the service, 
which was of an impressive nature, concluded with 
the hymn, " My faith looks up to Thee." 



SERVICE IN DODDRIDGE 
MEMORIAL CHURCH. 



A special service was aiUo held at Doddridge Memorial 
Church on Snxulay eveniinff. The preacher was 
Mr. Henry Cooiper, a gentleman who was dosely 
associated with the revered pastor at Castle HiK for 
35 years. The pulpit was draped, and the service was 
most impressive and appropriate. Mr. Cooper took as 
his text the well-knovn words from 2nd Timothy, iv., 
7th and 8th verses. The preacher said thev all agreed 
with what their Pastor (the Rev. J. J. Cooper) said 
that morning, that they had no desire to indmge in 
excessive eulogy on the friend whom they laid to 
rest the other day, but that it was right that the 
lessons of his life and character should not be lost. 
It wa« in the year 1859 thai coming to North- 
ampton from the country with great expectations, 
that he (the speaker) found his way to Doddridge, 
and there heard for the first time the powerful preach- 
ing of Thomias Arnold. His recollection of the old 
chapel at Doddridge was that of a Sunday evening 
when the place was filled to overflowing. Seats were 
imported in the aisles, and yet at the open doors of 
the chapel there would be scores standing to catch 
the eloquent words of that comparatively young man 
standing in the pulpit in which Doddridge preached 
his sermons. His hair and whiskers, which they had 
known of later years to be snowy white, were nearly 
black. His powerful preaching accounted for the 
great stir which was made in the place. He did not 
know anything concerning the old Church before he 
came to ' Northampton, except that it was dwindling 
away from many causes. The Church had been with- 
out a minister for nearly two years, whilst originally 
it had but a handful of members. There was very 
little life in it, and the organisations were of the 
most limited character, and were carried on bv a 
mere handful of men and women, who were scarcely in 
touch with the Church at all. This was the state «•£ 
the Church when there came this man sent by God, 
Thomas Arno'd. His next recollection was in the 
year 1862, when Mr. Arnold began his memorable 
series of sermons through the Old Testament, and 
he remembered they set double rows of seats in each 
aisle. He was so strong, so useful, so consistent, so 
earnest, and if they could search into the inner rays 
of his history they would discover in the weak 
moments of his life he had had strength and had been 
inspired by a life such as they had considered that 
night. A ' congregation of 400 or 500 people during 
half a lifetime ©very week sat to listen to him, and 
but for Mr. Arnold, how many men and women 
would have been worse off, and how many people would 
have lost the inspiration to fight the force of evil 
in the town ? His last words to him a few davs 
before he died were concerning their Church at St. 
James'-end. He turned his head from his pillow, 
and looked at him, saying "God's hand has been in 
that work ever since it has begun. I am certain 
that in the future, if the men be true, the work will 
go on." After the sermon the choir rendered " Vital 
Spark," whilst at the oondusion of the service the 
organist played the "Dead March." 



Demy 8vo., antique wrapper, 150 pages (pub. 3/6), 2/6. 
THE 

HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON 
INDEPENDENCY : 

A Succinct Account from Original Sources of 

The Growth of Congregationalism 

IN 

Northampton and Surrounding District, 

WITH 

Especial Reference to the Origin of Castle Hill 

Church and the Subsequent Labours of 

DR. DODDRIDGE. 

with 

REPORTS OF THE BI-CENTENARY SERVICES 

AT DODDRIDGE CHAPEL, 

Septembbk, 1895 ; and Makch, 1896. 

Appendices of Special Papers and Notes, 

BY 

REV. T. GASQUOINE, REV. J. J. COOPER, REV. W. E. MORRIS, 
DR. NEWTH, PROFESSOR PRYCE, AND OTHERS. 

Sllusftratclr tDtt]^ ]9en anlr Snit liratDingje!, 

By Edwin Bradbury and W. J. Rush; 
and 

Portraits of the Preachers and Speakers at the 
Bi- Centenary Services. 

iftcrtfjantpton : 
Taylor & Son, The Dryden Press, 9, College Street, 



Crown OvtaTO, Cloth gUt extra, (pnb. 5/) 2/6. 

Rambles Roundabout and Poems. 

By Grokqe James 1)k Wildk. Edited by Edward Dicey. 
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The only Uniform Edition, 3 vols., fscap. 8vo., cloth gilt antique, 
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" Descriptive Poems, Miscellaneous Pieces. &c.," 

•'Judith and Other Poems," and ** A Centenary of Sonnets." 

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Crown Octavo, Cloth Antique, (pub. 7/6) 2/6. 

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By J. Alfred Gotch, Author of The Buildings of Sir Thomas Tresham. 
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Demy Octavo, 20 pages, wrapper. One Shilling. 

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Memorials of the Independent Churches 

In Northamptonshire ; with Biographical Notices of their Pastors, and some 
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Coleman. 



TAYLOR & SON, 9 COLLEGE STREET, NORTHAMPTON. 



INDEX LOCORUM. 



BAKER'S 



itstorg 0f |(0rtl^ampt0nsl^TO. 



Northampton : 

Printed by J. Taylor dr* Son. 

1867. 



INDEX LOCORUM. 



ABINGTON. 

ABTflOEP. 

ADSTON, see Ashbt, Canoks. 

ALDEETON, 

ALTflOEP, see Bbisgton. 

APELTBE, see Aston-lb- Walls. 

ASHBT, CANONS. 

ASHBT LEDGEES. 

ASHTON. 

ASTCOTE, see Patbshttll. 

ASTON-LE-WALLS. 

ASTEOP, see Stttton. 

ASTWELL, see Wappehham. 

ASTWICK, see Eybklby. 

ATNHO. 



vol. i., pp. 7—17. 
vol. ii., pp. 266-270. 
vol. ii., pp. 17—20. 
vol. ii., pp. 119—122. 
vol. i., pp. 104—112. 
vol. i., pp. 475, 476. 
vol. ii., pp. 4 — 17. 
vol. i., pp. 241—252. 
vol. ii., pp. 123—128. 
voL ii., pp. 304—306. 
vol. i., pp. 469—474. 
vol. i., pp. 703—705. 
vol. i., pp. 731—737. 
vol. i., p. 617. 
vol. i., pp. 643 — 669. 



4 BAKER'S HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 

BADBT. 



BABBY. 

BILLING, <JBEAT. 

BILLING, LITTLE. 

BLAKESLET. 

BODDINGTON. 

BOBOTJGH HILL, iee Daventbt. 

BOTJGHTON. 

BBACKLET. 

BBAOKLET HATCH, iee Bbaoklet. 

BEADDEN. 

BEAMPTON. 

BBAMFTON, CHAPEL, tee Bbahftok. 

BEATJNSTON. 

BEINGTON. 

BEINGTON, LITTLE, 9ee Bbington. 

BEOCKHOLE. 

BUGBEOOK. 

BUECOTB, FIELD, iee Norton, Gebbns. 

BUECOTB, iee Towobstbe. 

BTFIELD. 



vol. i., pp. 253—258. 
vol. 1., pp. 262—266. 
vol. i., pp. 18—25. 
vol. i., pp. 26—30. 
vol. ii., pp. 20—28. 
vol. i., pp. 477—483. 
vol. i., pp. 839—847. 
vol. i., pp. 31—38. 
vol. i., pp. 560—586. 
vol. L, p. 587. 
vol. ii., pp. 36 — 42. 
vol. i., pp. 81—87. 
vol. i., pp. 88, 89. 
vol. i., pp. 267—275. 
vol. i., pp. 89—100. 
vol. i., pp. 100, 101. 
vol. i., pp. 112—119. 
vol. i., pp. 120 — 128. 
vol. ii., p. 69. 
vol. ii., pp. 338, 339. 
vol. i., pp. 484—489. 



BAKER'S HISTORY OP NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 

CALDECOTE, see Towcestbb. 
CABSWELL, see Norton, &bebns. 



CATESBT. 

CHACOMB. 

CHALLOCK, see Abthobp. 

CHAELTON, see Nbwbottle. 

CHABWELTON. 

CLASTHOEP, see Flore. 

CLELBT HTJNDEED. 

C0S6EAVE. 

CEOTJGHTON. 

CBOWFIELD, see Siresham. 

CULWOBTH. 

DALLINGTON. 

DABLSCOTE, see Pateshtol. 

DAVENTBT. 

DENSHANGEE, see Passenham. 

DESCOTE, see PATEssriL. 

DODFOBD. 

DBATTON, see Daventrt. 

DUNCOTE, see Norton, Greens. 



Yol. ii., pp. 839, 840. 
vol. ii., p. 69. 
vol. i., pp. 276—292. 
vol. i., pp. 587—697. 
vol. ii., p. 271. 
vol. i., pp. 664—666. 
vol. i., pp. 294—304. 
vol. i., p. 169. 
vol. ii., pp. 116—119. 
vol. ii., pp. 128—136. 
vol. i., pp. 698—603. 
vol. i., p. 681. 
vol. i., pp. 604—610. 
vol. i., pp. 129—137. 
vol. ii., p. 306. 
vol. i., pp. 304—338. 
vol. ii., pp. 196—197. 
vol. ii., p. 306. 
vol. i., pp. 349—363. 
vol. i., pp. 347, 348. 
vol. ii., p. 69 



6 BAKER'S HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 

DUSTON. 

BABTON NESTON. 

EDGCOTE. 

ESTCOTE, iee Patbbhull. 

EVBMLET. 

EVEEDON. 

ETDON. 

FA LOOT, see Wappbkham. 

FAENDON, see WoorroBD. 

FABTHINGHO. 

FABTHIN6ST0N. 

FAWSLEY HUNDRED. 

FAWSLEY. 

FLOBE. 

FOEEST LODGES, see Passekham. 

FOSCOTB, see Abthoep. 

FOSTER'S BOOTH, see Higham, Cold. 

FOSTEB'S BOOTH, see Pateshull. 

FOXLEY, see Blakeblet. 

FTJBTHO. 

GAYTON. 



vol. i., pp. 138—14.6. 
vol. ii., pp. 138—161. 
vol. i., pp. 4j91— 501. 
vol. ii., p. 306. 
vol. i., pp. 611—617. 
vol. i., pp. 363—368. 
vol. i., pp. 601—607. 
vol. i., p. 737. 
vol. i., pp. 536, 637. 
vol. i., pp. 618—626. 
vol. i., pp. 870—376. 
vol. 1., pp. 237—240. 
vol. i., pp. 377—395. 
vol. i., pp. 151—169. 

vol. ii., p. 198, 

vol. ii., pp. 270, 271. 

vol. ii., p. 291. 

vol. ii., p. 306. 

vol. ii., pp. 30—34. 

vol. ii., pp. 156—159. 

vol. ii., pp. 271—284. 



BAKER'S HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 

GBAFTON EEGIS. 

GEETWOETH. 

GEIMSBTJET, tee Waekwobth. 

GEIMSCOTE, see Higham, Cold. 

HADDON, EAST. 

HALSE, see Bbaoeley. 

HANLEY PAEK, see Towcebtee. 

HABLESTON. 

HAEPOLE. 

HAETWELL. 

HEATHENCOTE. 

HELLIDON. 

HELMDON. 



HETPOED. 

HBTFOED, NETHEE, see Hettobd. 

HETPOED, UPPEE, see Heyeobd. 

HIDE OB HYDE, see Eoade. 

HIGHAM, COLD. 

HINTOJNT. 

HINTON, see Woodeord. 

HOLDENBY. 



vol. ii., pp. 160—182. 
vol. i., pp. 607—612. 
vol. i., pp. 746—750. 
vol. ii., p. 291. 
vol. i., pp. 160—166. 
vol. i., p. 686. 
vol. ii., pp. 340—342. 
vol. i., pp. 166—176. 
vol. i., pp. 176-181. 
vol. ii., pp. 183—187. 
vol. ii., p. 214. 
vol. i., pp. 396—399. 

vol. i., pp. 627—633. 
vol. i., pp. 181, 182. 
vol. i., pp. 182—192. 
vol. i., pp. 193, 194. 
vol. ii., p. 236. 
vol. ii., pp. 284—290. 

vol. i., pp. 634— 638. 

vol. i., pp. 537, 538. 

vol. i., pp. 194—210. 



8 BAKER'S HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 

HOLYWELL, see Passekham. 

HULCOTE, see Eabtok Nibtok. 

HITSCOTE, see Chaoomb. 

KILSBT. 

KINGSTHOEP. 

EIBBY, see Blaksbliy. 

KISLINGBUBT. 

LITCHBOBOUGH. 

LONDON, LITTLE, see Passekham. 

LTJFFIELD PBIOBT, see NoETOir, Greeks 

MAIDPOED. 

MAESTON ST. LAWEENCB. 

MIDDLETON CHENDUIT. 

MOBE END, see Potterbpuby. 

MOETON PINKENET. 

MOTJLTON, 

MOTJLTON PABK, see Moultok. 

MUSCOTE, see Brockholb. 

NETHEECOTE, see Warkworth. 

NEWBOLD, see Catesby. 

NBWBOTTLE GEOVE HUNDEED. 



vol. ii., p. 197. 

vol. ii., pp. 151 — 153. 

vol. i., p. 697. 

vol. i., pp. 400—404. 

vol. i., pp. 39^45. 

vol. ii., p. 80. 

vol. i., pp. 210—215. 

vol. i., pp. 404—413. 

vol. ii., p. 197. 

9. 

vol. ii., pp. 90—94 
vol. ii., pp. 42 — 10. 
vol. i., pp. 689—647. 
vol. i., pp. 648—657. 
vol. ii., pp. 228, 229. 
vol. ii., pp. 49—57. 
vol. i., pp. 45—51. 
vol. i., pp. 52, 53. 
vol. i., p. 119. 
vol. i., p. 760. 
vol. i., p. 293. 
vol. i., pp. 79—81. 



BAKER'S HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 

NEWBOTTLE, see Bbington. 
NEWIOTTLE. 



NEWNHAM, see Badbt. 

NOETON HUNDEED. 

NOETON, GBEENS. 

NOETON. 

ONLET, see Barbt. 

OVEESTON. 

OVEETHOEP, see Wabkwoeth. 

PASSENHAM. 

PATESHULL. 

PAULEESPUET. 

PrrSFOED. 

PLOWMAN'S FTJEZE, see Evenlbt. 

PLTIMPTON (OLELET), see Pattlbbspitbt. 

PLTJMPTON (NOETON). 

POTCOTE, see Hioham, Cold. 

POTCOTE, see Nobton, GteBEKS. 

POTTEESPTJET. 

PEESTON CAPES. 

PEBSTON PAEVA, see Pbbston Capbs. 



vol. i., pp. 101—104. 
vol. i., pp. 667—664. 
vol. i., pp. 268—261. 
vol. ii., pp. 1 — 8. 
vol. ii., pp. 67—69. 
vol. i., pp. 418—428. 
vol. i., p. 267. 
vol. i., pp. 68—60. 
vol. i., p. 746. 
vol. ii., pp. 187—196. 
vol. ii., pp. 292—804. 
vol. ii., pp. 199—212. 
vol. i., pp. 61—66. • 
vol. i., p. 617. 

r 

vol. ii., p. 218. 

vol. ii., pp. 96—100. 

vol. ii., p. 291. 

vol. ii., p. 69. 

vol. ii., pp. 215—226. 

vol. i., pp. 426—431. 

vol. i., pp. 431—434. 



10 BAKER^S HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHI 

PUKSTON, 9ee Newbottle. 

PXJXLBY, see Pabsekham. 

EADSTON. 

EAVENSTHOBP. 

EOADE. 

ST. JAMES' ABBEY, see Duston. 

ST. JAMES' END, see Duston. 

SEWABDSLET, see Eastoit Neston. 

SEWELL, see Blaebblet. 

SHUTLANGEE, see Stoke BstrEEir. 

SILVESTON, see Noetoit, Greens. 

SIEESHAM. 

SLAPTON. 

SNOSCOMB, see Evebdon. 

SPELHO HTJNDBED. 

SPEATTON. 

STAVEETON. 

STEANE. 

STOKE BEUEEN. 

STONETON, see Waedoit, CnippiNa. 

STOTESBUEY. 



aim. 



vol. i., pp. icl67— 669. 
vol. ii., pp. 197, 198. 
vol. i., pp. 670—676. 
vol. i., pp. 215—219. 
vol. ii., pp. 231—236. 
vol. i., pp. 146 — 161. 
vol. i., p. 146. 
vol. ii., pp. 163 — 165. 
vol. ii., pp. 34, 35. 
vol. ii., p. 250. 
vol. ii., pp. 86—90. 
vol. i., pp. 676—681. 
vol. ii., pp. 100—104. 
vol. i., p. 869. 
vol. i., pp. 5, 6. 
vol. i., pp. 66 — 71. 
vol. i., pp. 435 — 439. 
vol. i., pp. 681—689. 
vol. ii., pp. 237—250. 
vol. i., p. 532. 
vol. i., pp. 689—691. 



BAKBR'S HISTORY OP NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 

STOWE. 

STEATFOED, OLD. 
SULGEAVB. 



11 



SUTTON HUNDEED. 

SUTTON. 

TETON, see Eatbitsthoep. 

THBNEOBD. 

THOEP, see Nortoit. 

THOEP MANDEVILLE. 

TIFEIELD. 

TOWCESTEE HUNDEED. 

TOWCESTEE. 

TEAFFOED, see Btfield. 

TWTFOED, see Suttok. 

UPTON. 

WAKEFIELD, see Pottebspury. 

WALTON see Sutton. 

WAPPENHAM. 

WAEDON HUNDEED. 

WAEDON, CHIPPING. 

WAEDON, WEST, see Aston-le- Walls. 



vol. i., pp. 439—449. 
vol. ii., pp. 187, 138. 
vol. i., pp. 612—620. 
vol. i., pp. 639—642. 
vol. i., pp. 692—703. 
vol. i., pp. 219—221. 
vol. i., pp. 709—717. 
vol. 1., pp. 423—425. 
vol. i., pp. 718—724. 
vol. ii., pp. 307—311. 
vol. li., pp. 261—264. 
vol. ii., pp. 312— 338. 
vol. i., p. 490. 
vol. i., p. 705. 
vol. i., pp. 221—229. 
vol. ii., pp. 230, 231. 
vol. i., pp. 706—708. 
vol. i., pp. 725—731. 
vol. i., pp. 467, 468. 
vol. i., pp. 521—632. 
vol. i., p. 476. 



12 BAKER'S HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 

WAEKWOETH. 

vol. i., pp. 738—746. 

WEDON 

vol. i., pp. 450 — 457. 

WEDON PINKENEY. 

vol. ii., pp. 104 — 114. 

WELTON. 

vol. i., pp. 457—466. 

WESTHOEP, 966 Mabston St. Lawbbkoe. 

vol. i., p. 647. 

WESTON BY WEDON, m Wedok PiNicBKBT. 

vol. ii., pp. 114, 116. 

WESTON FAVELL. 

vol. i., pp. 72—78. 

WniLTON. 

vol. i., pp. 230—286. 

WHISTIiEY WOOD, see Bracklet. 

vol. i., p. 687. 

WHITFIELD. 

vol. i., pp. 750—756. 

WHITTLEBTJBY, see Nobtok, Gbbbks. 

vol. ii., pp. 70—78. 

WHITTLEBTJBY POBEST, see Norton, Greens. 

vol. ii., pp. 74—86. 

WICKEN. 

vol. ii., p. 251. 

WOODEND, see Blakeslet. 

vol. ii., pp. 28—30. 

WOODFOBD. 

vol. i., pp. 538—536. 

WYKE DYVE, see Wicken. 

vol. ii., pp. 253—260. 

WYKE HAMON, see Wicken. 

vol. ii., pp. 251—253. 

YABDLEY QOBION, see Potterspury. 

vol. ii., pp. 226, 227. 



In North-Northamptonshire. 



JI^ARLY in August of last year — a delightful summer day — a party 
J of Northampton friends made a long-contemplated visit to Bam- 
well and Fotheringhay ; two places which must be ever full of 
charm to lovers of the quietly picturesque, independent of their great 
historical and antiquarian interest. Arriving at Barnwell St. Andrews 
while the day was yet young, we at once made our way to the 
church, passing en route a quaint old-fashioned cottage of which I 
secured a hasty sketch. The first glance at the church is sufficient 
to show that it is well worth inspection, the graceful spire and highly 
decorated tower-windows at once claiming attention. The main 
portion of the building is early English in character, but insertions 
of later date are to be seen in various parts. The interior has 
recently been well restored, and a new organ chamber added on- 
the north side of the chancel. The following brief description, taken < 
from the MS. History of Barnwell, by John Cole, (now in the 
possession of Mr. T. J. George, of the Northampton Public Library) 
will probably be read with interest : — 

" The church consists of an early English tower and spire, nave, 
north and south aisles, chancel, and two porches. The windows of 
the tower are much ornamented. They are of two lights, trefoil 
headed, divided by a grooved pillar, having a serrated moulding. The 
head is filled up with a quatrefoil, enclosed in a similar ornament. 
The toothed moulding occurs in the head, as also the serrated pattern. 
The inner door of the south porch is beautifully enriched with 
mouldings of the toothed ornament in a double series. The north 
porch is used as a vestry. The mouldings of the door are composed 
of the ball-flower and expanded leaves -, it has a moulded tablet. The 
south door of the chancel has a circular-headed, depressed arch with 



cylindrical pillars. The north door (not the porch) has a bold 
strongly-recessed arch, with dripstone rising from carved heads. The 
capitals of the pillars are large and composed of foliage, originating 
from the mouth of a large head in the central division of the two 
columns, which are connected by the same ornament. The keystone 
of the arch represents a monstrous baboon-shaped head, holding his 
bent legs by a sort of claw. The perpendicular windows of the 
chancel are fine, having remains of stained glass. A window on the 
north side, whose head is filled up with a catherine-wheel of stained 
glass, is pleasingly effective. The very large east window is perpen- 
dicular, the lower portion filled up with good masonry. Several of 
the corbel heads, particularly those on the south side, are of the most 
hideous form that can be well imagined, but well wrought ; others 
are curious in their details. Much of the exterior is shrouded in ivy. 

''The interior is kept in a state of commendable neatness, and 
contains many interesting architectural features. The aisles are 
divided from the nave by three pointed arches supported by clustered 
columns. An arch of larger span separates nave from chancel, this 
arch rising from a series of three short cylindrical columns, with 
bold capitals and mouldings. The clerestory windows are of two 
lights, trefoil headed. The south inner door of the chancel, and the 
northern one, opening into the vestry, are singularly but effectively 
composed of the bell windows of the second story of the demolished 
church of Barnwell All Saints. On the south side of the chancel are 
sedilia of perpendicular character, ogee headed and the arch crocketted, 
having groined roofs. In one of the south windows of the chancel 
are portions of painted glass representing ecclesiastics with mitres.'** 

This manuscript history of Barnwell contains a number of clever 
sketches, in pencil and water-colour, of the church and other 
buildings, such as the Latham hospital, the castle, and schools. 

Amongst other interesting features of the interior may be 
mentioned a curious canopied niche on a pillar near the pulpit, the 
purpose of which it is difficult to conjecture. At the east end of the 
north aisle is an early reredos, consisting of three ogee beaded 
arches, with crockets and finials. The stonework between the 
pillars has been recently pierced to admit light and air to the new 
organ chamber, where there is a portion of a squint or hagioscope, 
which has been partially obscured by the east wall of the new 
building, in which has been inserted a small window of two lights 
that formerly belonged to the demolished churcli of Barnwell All 

* Several alterations from the above description were made daring the 

restoration. 



Saints, and which for many years lay in the rectory garden. Near 
the chancel arch, opening from the south aisle, is a small door of rude 
workmanship which formerly gave entrance to the rood loft, while in 
the adjoining aisle are some fragments of the stone stairs leading 
thereto. At the east end of this aisle are some fragments of an 
altar-piece of perpendicular character, brought from the ruined 
church of All Saints, the centre being filled by a small window^ and 
in the south wall a piscina and a " leper '* window. Many of the 
windows are filled with modern stained glass, and the whole of the 
seats, etc., are modern also. The pulpit is old, and shows some very 
fair Jacobean carving. The church is 77ft. 5in. in length and 42ft. 
2in. wide. 

Of the monuments, by far the most interesting is that 
of "Parson Latham," now in the organ chamber. As this 
deserves fuller mention I append a description taken from Bridges' 
Northamptonshire, vol. ii. p. 394 : — '* A monument of Raunds stone 
painted : at the top are these Arms, Or, on a chief indented azure three 
roundlets gules, Crest, An Eagle standing on a cradle Or^ therein a 
Child proper. Under an arch in the wall, is painted the busto * of a 
divine in his habit, holding in his hands a book on a table before 
him. On the freeze below is inscribed. Mors te omni loco expectat, 
tu ergo illam omni expecta. And on a black marble tablet, between 
the arms and busto, this inscription : 

Hebb lteth thb body of Nicholas La- 

THAX BORNB IN BbIOSTOOK OBRTE PASK 
BbIKO thb 80NNB OF JOHN LaTHAK OBMTL. 
KKKKKB OF THB SAID PABEB, WHICH NICHO- 
LAS 
WAS PAB80N OF THIS OHUBOB ONLIB BT THB 
SPACE OF FIFTIB & ONB TBABBS 
HAYINa NOB OTHEB DIONITIB OB LANDS OB 

GOODS LBFT HQC BT HIS AUNCBS- 
T0B8 DUBINO WHICH TIME HB DHJGBNTLIB 

FEDD HIS FLOCK W™ SPIBITITAL & 

BODILY FOOD. HbB BUILDED 2 HOSPITALS, 

ONB IN BaBNBWELL FOB 14 POOBB PEOFLB 

& ONB IN OXTNDLB FOB 18 POOBB WIDDOWES. 

HbB founded 5 FBEB SCHOOLBS FOB YONaB 

CHILDBEN, ONB IN BaBNWELL, ONB IN 

OXTNDLB, ONB IN HbHINOTON, ONB IN WbEK- 

UB, & ONB IN BbIOSTOCS, & QAYB MANI 

OTHEB CHABITABLB GIFTS, AS CHABITABLB 

EXHIBITION 
TO 2 SCHOLLEBS IN CaKBBIDGB, BEPAYB 
OF BBIDGES and HIGHWAYES, BELIEF TO 

* The bust has now been relieved of the paint. 



> BUOEL 

AB HA7X LOSfBS, & TBABLIB OLOTHIKO TO 

45 FOOBB OHZLDBBir. Au. WHICH DOB AXOUnT 

TO THB 

YaLBW or TKBBB BVNDBXD FOUNDS BT THB 

TBAB lOB BTBB. WhBH HB WAS 45 TBABB 

OF AOB BB XABBIBD MaBZB FoSTBB THB 

DAUOHTBB OF HbNBIB FoRBB OF 

BxTBWin [Burwash] in Sxtbsbz tbomjln bt whomb 

HB HAD ONB SONNB WHIOH DIBD 

AN INFANT. TbIB WOBTHI PaBTOB DE- 

PABTBD THIS LIFB THB 4 DATS OF AXTOUBT 

DT THB TBAB OF HIS AOB 72. AnNO DoKI- 

NI 1620. 

This inscription has been replaced by one in modern spelling. 

On the south wall of the chancel is a small brass bearing the 
inscription: — "Here lyeth John Orton, first warden of Parson 
Latham's Hospitall 5 who dyed the 25th day of July, 1607, in the 
year of his age 10 1.'* Another brass is engraved with figures of a 
man and woman, in the habit of the times, praying at a desk; 
behind the man are four sons, and behind the woman four daughters, 
also praying. This is in memory of Christopher Freeman, who died 
on the 1 2th of December, 16 10, aged 51 years. 

The font is octagonal, the sides bearing arches enriched by 
crockets and fiuials, the style being similar to that of the reredos in 
the north aisle. The register dates from 1558. 

Returning to the churchyard, I found to the north of the church 
two ancient stone coffin-lids, one having on it a fine floriated cross and 
the other decorated with scroll-work much defaced. For some 
unknown reason these are placed over the graves of Richard Boultbee, 
late rector of Barnwell, and Rosalind his wife, who died respectively 
on April 8 and August 23, 1874. These interesting stones, I 
presume, are memorials of some religious foundation which once 
existed at Barnwell. 

Glancing over the exterior of the church one immediately 
notices in the second stage of the tower, on the south side, a round 
window of very pleasing design, the ornamentation being similar to 
that of the belfry windows above. It is strange that John Cole 
should have made no mention of so characteristic a feature. The 
church is to a great extent covered with ivy, which certainly adds to 
its picturesque appearance. The entrance to the rectory garden is 
through a gothic doorway of geometrical design, on either side of 
which are one or two small windows of similar character. From the 



Gharcbyard a pleasant pathway, delightfully shaded by numerous trees, 
leads over a bridge of a single arch to the precincts of the castle, 
which is situated in the garden belonging to the fine old house 
occupied by the courteous agent to the duke of Buccleucfa, from 
whom the key of the entrance gate of the castle is readily obtained. 

Standing solitary and majestic on a mound of emerald turf, and 
surrounded by a trimly-kept garden and luxuriant foliage, the castle 
makes a goodly picture. Bridges, the old county historian, speaking 
of Barnwell says : " In the reign of Hen. I. a castle was built here by 
Reginald le Moine, the remains of which now standing are four round 
bastions, a great gateway to the south-east, a small door on the west, 
with doors into the bastions, and door-cases still intire. The walls, 
which are about three feet thick, are yet subsisting, except on the 
western side, the middle part of which is open. Lord Chief 
Baron Montague resided here about thirty-five years ago [1791] : 
since that time it hath been in a g^eat measure demolished. On the 
Castle-hill, where the out-houses were supposed to have stood, is a 
dwelling house or two, in one of which Mr. Hunt lives, Rector of 
Bamwell-All-Saints. It is situated high, and overlooks the country 
to the north-west. At the foot of Castle-hill is a water, arising from 
adjacent springs.'* 

Apropos to Reginald le Moioe and the castle I may mention a 
curious little pamphlet of ten pages, printed by Wilkin, of Oundle, 
and entitled Black Berengarius ; a Legend of Barnwell Castle, In 
this strange story of love and jealousy the chief actors are Reginald 
le Moigne and his two sons, Berengarius and Wintner, and the scene 
is at Barnwell, which according to the tale almost rivalled in marvels 
the celebrated castle of Otranto. 

An engraving of this still imposing ruin was published by Samuel 
and Nathaniel Buck in 1729. There is little apparent change in the 
fabric of the castle since that time, except that the opening shown in 
the western wall has been built up. The space inclosed by the walls 
is now an orchard, and would make, I should fancy, a very enjoyable 
place for a picnic on a hot summer's day. Some of the bastions 
contain small chambers still entire, having vaulted roofs, and lighted 
by narrow loopholes widely splayed to the interior. The principal 
entrance is flanked by a tower similar to those at the angles. The 
masonry is in remarkably good preservation and the work as sharp as 
if of recent date. The accompanying plate is a reduced facsimile of 
the view above-mentioned. 

A stone staircase within the quadrangle leads to the top of the 
walls, whence, from amidst a luxuriant growth of greenery, a wide 



expanse of country may be viewed. Visitors making their way to 
this elevated outlook will note there many varieties of wild flowers, 
femsj and lichens. 

Time^ however, bids us hasten our departure^ so making a 
hurried tour of the village^ I note, near the entrance to the churchyard, 
the girl's school erected at the cost of William Bigley, a native of 
Barnwell, who, ''as ancient legends tell,** started from the village in 
early life a needy adventurer, and having amassed a considerable 
fortune left funds for the erection and endowment of a girFs school 
in bis native place. 

A little further on is the Latham hospital, one of parson Latham's 
munificent gifts. A Tudor door gives entrance to the courtyard, 
round which the dwellings are arranged. The above-mentioned door 
has a triangular pediment, and bears the date 1601 and the words 
'' Cast thy bread uppon the waters." Rebuilt in 1876, largely at the 
expense of the duke of Buccleuch, who contributed sSi200, 

The free school for boys, founded by Nicholas Latham, has been 
superseded by a new school for both boys and girls, built by the d uke 
of Buccleuch at a cost of about ^2000, the old school now being 
used as a cottage. 

At Barnwell All Saints' only the chancel of the church remains 
and now serves as a mortuary chapel. It contains many monuments 
of the Montague family. 

Leaving Barnwell about 1.30 we proceeded to Oundle by train and 
thence walked, by way of Cotterstock and Tansor, to Fotheringhay. 
One object of our visit here was to witness a series of tableaux 
vivants illustrating the life of Mary Queen of Scots, produced in 
commemoration of the three hundredth anniversary of her execution. 
A large bam adjacent to the castle hill had been fitted up for the 
purpose, and a numerous company assembled to witness this 
interesting display, the scenes depicted being as under : — 

1 Garden of French Convent, a.d. 1557 : Mary Queen of Soots and four 

noble maidens. 

2 Court of France, April 24, 1558 : Marriage of Mary and the Dauphin. 

3 Palace at Holyrood: Queen Mary disturbed at supper; Rizzio*s 

murder, Muroh 9th, 1566. 

4 Lochleven Castle : Abdication of Queen Mary, July 24, 1567. 

5 Fotheringhay Castle : Mary going to her trial, October 14, 1586. 

6 Fotheringhay Castle : The last New Year's Eve, December 31, 1586. 

7 Fotheringhay Castle : Queen Mary pledging her attendants, February 

7, 1587. 

8 Fotheringhay Castle : The great Hall— the Scaffold, February 8, 1587. 

9 Robert Scarlett, the famous old sexton of Peterborough Cathedral. 



Each tableau was shown in two positions, and the whole were 
greatly applauded. In the intervals of the representation " Cuthbert 
Bede" gave one or two explanatory readings from his recently- 
published work, entitled Folheringhay and Mary Queen of Scots, 

This important episode ended we were at liberty to look about us. 
Of the castle there are positively no remains, unless a shapeless mass of 
masonry near the river side can be so called. But one may sit and 
dream on the mound where stood the stately keep, built in the form 
of a fetterlock, and there even now the emblematic thistle grows, a 
living link between to-day and the tragedy of long ago. Presently 
turning our steps towards the church, we paused for a moment to 
admire the stately fragment known as the New Inn, and ere long 
stood beneath the lofty roof of the spacious building erected by the 
dukes of York. The general character of the architecture of the 
church is perpendicular, some exceptions occurring in the mouldings 
and piers, probably caused by the present church being copied from 
the choir built by Edmund of Langley, in the latter half of the 
fourteenth century. 

The present church consists of nave and aisles, with a square 
tower and octagonal lantern, and a large north porch with an upper 
chamber. Pinnacles surmount the buttresses along the aisles, and 
flying buttresses on either side support the clerestory. The appearance 
of the church from the exterior is by no means pleasing, owing to 
its want of length. The octagonal lantern surmounting the tower is, 
however, sufficiently graceful. 

There are several ancient stones in the church which mark the 
graves of ecclesiastics and others, but the brasses which once 
represented their effigies have long since disappeared. The pulpit is 
original and elaborately carved. Some of the stalls formerly in the 
chancel are now in the neighbouring churches of Hemington and 
Tansor, and are decorated with the rose, the fetterlock, and a kqot. 
On either side of the communion table are monuments erected by 
Queen Elizabeth to her ancestors, the dukes of York, originally 
buried in the collegiate church, and removed hither by her order. 
They are heavy, tasteless erections, ornamented with the falcon and 
fetterlock. That on the south side has within a border of 
characteristic Elizabethan ornament, a shield bearing France and 
England quarterly,«with a label of five points, for Edward duke of 
York, who was killed at Agincourt ; while that on the north, an exact 
counterpart of the other, has France and England quarterly, with a label 
of five points, impaling a saltire, surmounted by a ducal coronet^ for 



8 

Richard duke of York, who was killed at Wakefield. Over each of 
these monuments is a wooden tablet, the one on the south reading : — 

" Edward Duke of York was slain at the Battle of Agincourt in 
the 3rd year of Henry 5th, 14 15. These monuments were made in 
the Year of our Lord 1575.** 

On the other is : — 

" Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, Nephew to £dward^ Duke 
of York^ and Father to King Edward 4th, was slain at Wakefield^ in 
the 37th Year of Henry 6th, 1459 5 and lies buried here with Cecily 
his Wife. Cecily Duchess of York, Daughter to Ralph Neville first 
Earl of Westmorland." 

A lofty arch at the west end of the nave opens into the tower, 
within which is the font. The bason is octagonal, adorned with 
grotesque heads and foliage within gothic compartments 5 this is 
supported by a short octagonal pillar and elevated upon two steps. 
The dome under the tower is decorated with elegant fan-tracery. 
The roof is original, ornamented at the intersection of the timbers 
with carved foliage. 

The fullest and most interesting account of Fotheringhay generally 
is that of *' Cuthbert Bede," in his Fotheringhay and Mary Queen of 
Scots, published by Mr. A, King, Oundle, 1886, by whose permission 
the engraving of Fotheringhay is given. 

Northampton. F. A. ToLE. 




The Dryden Press, Tatlob & Son, 9, College Street, Northampton. 



'^p^ ^ 





MONUMENT TO LADY OXENDEN 
In Rockingham Church. 



(flocfiinj^am CaBth. 



T T is supposed that Rockingham was the site of a SaxoD Burb« 
J Many of the Burhs which dotted every part of £ngland were 
taken possession of by William the Norman when he came to 
England, and it was the lot of Rockingham, being connected with 
a forest, to be at once appropriated by the Conqueror. It was a 
capital hunting box and the active William valued it accordingly. 
As we learn from Mr. C. Wise's excellent history of Rock- 
ingham {Rocldngham Castle and the Watsons, " N. N. & Q.," 
vol. iv. pp. 241 et seq,), although there is no record of William 
visiting Rockingham, works must speedily have been commenced 



ji% 




there, for thirty years after the Conquest the castle was selected 
as a fitting place for holding a great council of the realm to 
discuss really whether the recognition of Urban by Anselm was 
consistent with fidelity to the crown of England. King John 
who had a partiality for hunting went to Rockingham at least on 
fourteen different occasions, for that is the number of his recorded 
visits — the first in 1204 and the last in 1216. One of the treasured 
possessions of the Castle is a remarkable trunk of the time of King 
John. It is of iron, heavily rivetted and possessing many hinges and 
staples and catches for the safety of its contents. Near it in the hall 
of the castle is preserved another chest of later date, fifteenth 
century, finely painted in panels with fiowers and foliage, and two 



lO 

shields, one with the arms of England (^iions and Jleurs des luce) of 
that period, and the other with the arms of the great trading city of 
Nuremburg. The accompanying illustrations of these chests are 
from drawings by the Rev. C. H. Hartshorne. 

Much information respecting King John and his court at 
Rockingham is to be found in volume twenty-two of the Archasologia 
(pp. 139, 145, 146, 148, 149, 150, 157 and i.';9). In volume three 
of the same work (p. 81) is " An Account of an Allowance made to 
the Sheriff of Northamptonshire for money delivered to the King's 
Vine Dresser at Rockingham/' by the Hon. Daines Barrington. 

There exists a curious MS. account-book of receipts and expen- 
diture, with the entries in the handwriting of Elizabeth Wentworth, 
niece of the celebrated Earl of Strafford executed oii May 12th, 1641. 
It is dated " Rockingham Feb. ye 10th. 1656 " 5 and is signed " Betty 
Wentworth '* and " Eliza Wentworth.*' It contains miny interesting 
items relative to the prices of articles in general use in the middle of 
the seventeenth century, such as 

I oame to Rookingham this last time ye 2tf of August 1657. 

My mother left London with us all Aufr. ye 23rd, 1668. 

I went from Rockingham to London with my brother Tom, Aug. ye 29 : 

returned to Rock : againe ye 80th Oct. with my La : Clair. 
My Lady Rockingham and I went tov^ards London, May ye 28th, 1660. 
I came up to London with my young Lady Kinsmill, Dec. ye 19th, 1661, to 

my Aunt Strafford. 
I left London to come into% Ireland July ye 27th, 1664, and landed at 

Dublin ye 8th of August following. £ s. d. 

Feb. 20, 16S6. Received of my Mother 5 

April 22. 1656. Received of my La Rook : by my Mother*8 

appointment I 17 10 

Septr. ye 2, receaved of my Lady Rockin«:ham in full of my 

quarters allowans ending ye 29th of this month, 1658, the 

sum of 
March 29, 1659. Received of my Lady Stafford ye sumrae of 
Sept. 3, 1660. Received of Anthony Cooper by my Father's 

appointment 

DithuraeTMnU teinre y$ 20M Febr : 1655. 
To ye worke-men when I laid the foundation stone of the house 
Lost at Cards 

for flowered luttstring for a Gound 
A token for my Valentine 
A box to put in 

At my eosen Nell's christening 
to ye chairmen for carrying me to church 
to ye lame souldiers 
for an Alminack 

to ye Morris dancers when ye K. was procla; [Charles II.] 
to ye maids for their Garland 
for patches 
for bindeing a book 



5 3 


6 


5 





5 





2 





5 


2 


4 





5 





1 


6 


1 





5 





1 








2 


2 


6 


1 


6 





6 


2 


6 



1 1 



to my La : Ara. W. at Walingford House 


3 6 


for Cole money 


10 


to ye man yt. carried me to ye show 


2 6 


seeing a play 


2 6 


half a pinte of water for my fasce 


4 


for Spring Garden Beef 


1 


lost at tables 


3 


for my cozen Hazle wood's men 


3 


for searching Jane Hazlewood's Will 


16 


seeing the popet play 


6 


for a right of city ieutillwoman 


5 6 


for a balletfc 


1 


A vizard mask 


8 


Besides ye sumes mentioned in this Booke to he reed. 


these sumes following 


have heeny and must he paid to 


my vse 


To ye Frenchwoman 


14 15 


to ye taylor 


44 


to ye shoemaker 


3 19 6 


to Gandon for lase 


10 


for 5 yds. pinke taby 


about 2 10 


to ye seamstres 


16 


for silke stoke stokeens 


16 


for a lased hankerohiefe 


14 



Lady Rockingham, mentioned above, was probably Anne, daughter 
of Earl Strafford. 




In Rockingham church there exists a monument to Sir Edward 
Watson and his wife Ann, the daughter of Kenelm Digby of Stoke Dry. 
Sir Edward was knighted in May, 1603, a"^ ^^^d in 161 6. The effigies 
on this tomb were perfect in the time of Bridges, who thus describes 
the monument : — " In the burial place, on the north side of the 
chancel, on an altar tomb are the marble statues of a man in armour, 
and of his wife lying by" him, in the dress of the times, their hands 



12 

raised in the gesture of prayer. In bass relief, on different marble 
compartroents, are in one the figures of a youth in armour, a sister, 
and two young boys ; in the other five daughters, habited according 
to the times. Above these are three distinct pieces of stone-work, 
in the first of which are, Watson^ On a Cheveron engrailed between 
three martlets as many crescents; in the second. On a Cheveron en- 
grailed three crescents between as many martlets, impaling, Mountagu, 
within a bordure engrailed three lozenges in Jess : in the third. On a 
cheveron engrailed three crescents between as m/iny martlets, impaling, 
afiewr de lis,*' Bridges, however, ascribes the monument to the 
wrong Edward Watson, the father instead of the son.* 

The tomb was subsequently taken down, and after lying in pieces 
for many years in the north chancel aisle, and forming a step to go up 
a ladder to ring the bell, was reverently put together again about 1850 
by the Rev. H. J. Bigge. The tomb was restored, says Mr. Albert 
Hartshorne in his *' Recumbent Monumental Effigies in Northamp- 
tonshire,*' and the efiigies were removed to their present position in 
the new Watson aisle, in 1868. The effigies are now " so disfigured 
that their detail are hardly decipherable, but sufficient remains to show 
that they were originally precisely like the effigies of the Chauncy 
family at Edgecott, and must be from the hand of the same sculptor." 

An interesting event associated with Rockingham castle was a 
presentation to Captain the Hon George Watson by the Kettering 
Troop of the Northamptonshire Yeomanry. The handsome testi- 
monial was " an elegant Silver Vase, richly gilded, of antique shape, 
capable of containing one gallon, and ornamented with the following 
appropriate devices: — On the cover is Britannia holding an olive 
branch 5 within are the names of the troop ; the border of the cup 
festooned with the vine ; the handles of oak branches, leaves, and 
acorns, supported by Arabian horses' heads ) in front, a Cornet of 
Yeomanry, bearing a standard, in full charge, in medallion, surrounded 
by military trophies." Such was the description given by the North- 
ampton Mercury a week after the presentation, which took place '* at 
the usual place of exercise " on January 9th, 1808. On the cup was 
the following long inscription : " This Cup, a small tribute, from 
Members of the Kettering Troop of Northamptonshire Yeomanry, 
to their noble and worthy Captain, The Hon, George Watson, as a 
testimony of their high respect and esteem, and for the very handsome 
and usually liberal treatment they have ever experienced since their 
first enrolment ; and more particularly to shew, that in the politics of 
the day, and at a crisis like the present, he has never lost sight of the 

* Mr. Wise suggests that this monument is probably composed of the remains 
of two monuments. See Roekingham Caatle and the Wataona, p. 46. 



13 

cause they have been so long engaged in. An attachment so congenial 
and in unison with the feelings of the troop, and which is peculiarly 
manifest, in the sentiment so nobly given by him on the celebration 
by the troop of our beloved Sovereign's last natal day, that, for pos- 
terity's sake, it is here thought worthy of being recorded in letters of 
gold : — ' Our good old King, the best of Kings, and the best of Con- 
stitutions T — with three times three cheers.'* ''This beautiful cup" 
said the Northampton Mercury, " may be regarded as a model of 
antiquity," whatever that may mean. The presentation was made by 
Lieutenant Palmer: and Captain Watson, "on receiving the cup, 
conveyed it to the carriage of I^ady Sondes, who, with her amiable 
family were conducted to the ground by an escort of the troop." 
Then Captain Watson replied and his speech was received with ** the 
highest impulse of affectionate applause." 

Sir Richard de Capell Broke had privately printed, by Dash of 
Kettering, a number of interesting documents relating to Rockingham 
forest. Oue of these printed collections — that in the possession of 
Mr. John Taylor, Northampton — lies before me. It has a written 
title as follows : — 

Copies of grants, claims, & other ancient documents, relating to the 
Forest of Rockingham in the County of Northampton, made by the 
late Sir Richard de Capell Broke, Bart., of Oakley Hall, a Verderer 
of the Forest; collected from searches at the Record Office in the 
Tower, the Rolls Chapel, and from other sources. Presented to the 
Archdeacon Bonney by Sir Arthur de Capell Broke, Bart., one of the 
Proprietors of the Forest at the time of its disa^^restation. 

I quote the following : — 

Jakbs Rbx. 
Certaine auncyente Lawes and ordinances of the Forest commanded by His 
Majesty to be published in the Parishe Churches within the Bayiywick of 
Rockingham and neare and adjoineing unto the Borders and confines of 
the same. 
Ist. Noe man my chase or kill the Kings Deer and Game lyiuge and feedinge 
within the Purlieues adjoininge to the said Bayiywick except he have 
Freehold Lands to the Yearly value of xl shillings within the said 
Purlieues. 

2. Every Purlieu Man muste begin his chase in his own Purlieu. 

3. No Purlieu Man may hunt his Purlieues with any more company than his 

household Servants. 

4. Hee must not use anie manner of ForestaUinge with Quick Haye or with 

Dead Haye, neither Gun Crossbow nor any other Engine to take or kill 
the Deer withall but only chasing with his Dogge. 

5. He must not hunt his Purlieues in the night tyme nor on the Sundaye nor 

in the Fence month nor oftener than three days in the week. 

6. He must not hunt his Purlieu 40 da3rs before the Kings General Hunting 

nor 40 days after. 



H 

7. fie must not hunt his Purlieus when that the Forester is to serve aby 

warrant near unto the borders of the Purlieus having notice given him 
thereof before. 

8. He must repeal and call back his Dogge before they enter into the Forest 

neither may he pursue them into the Forest exepte they do first fasten 
upon the Deer and that the Deer do draw his Dogge into the Forest. 
0. He may not hunt nor kill any unseasonable Deer. 

To our Tmstie and welbeloved Sr. Edward Monntacute Sr. Chris- 
topher Hatton Sr. Edward Watson Sr. Thomas Brooke and 
Br. Thomas Tresham Knight and to every of them. 

By a warrant *' Given at our Court at Wanested this 2ist of Jane, 
i6io," Sir Edward Mountacute and the rest of them were ordered to 
cause the above " to be published in every Parish Church within our 
said Baylywick and near adjoining to the borders and confines/' to the 
end "that all Men from henceforth may by our gracious warning, 
forbear their disorderly course of hunting within the Purlieus and 
near the borders and Confines of our said Bayliwick or else be and 
remain hereafter inexcusable, and if any shall out of an obstinate and 
undutiful humour continue their unlawful manner of hunting in 
and near the place aforesaid that You fail not to punish them by 
imprisonment or otherwise as by the Laws and ordinance of the 
Forest is in that case made and provided." Another authority of the 
same date addressed to the same persons apparently abolished habeas 
corpus for forest poachers. Search was to be made for *' evil disposed 
persons towards our Deere and Game of our Forest of Rockingham," 
and "all such as You shall find to doe hurt to our Deer or Game 
within the said Baylywick with Greyhounds or any kinde of Doggs 
or by using of any such Engines [Bows, Crossbows, Buckstalls, 
Deerhayes] you shall commit them to Prison there to remain until 
our pleasure therein shall be fully known.'* 

The Hon. Lewis Watson, the first Baron Sondes, married Grace 
Pelbam, niece of the Duke of Newcastle. A portrait of this lady 
hangs in the gallery at Rockingham. She was a woman ** of con- 
siderable intellectual power." In i7j3, shortly after her marriage, 
appeared the following : 

, The Carnation. To the Honourable Miss Grace Pelham. A Poem upon 
her Marriage to the Honourable Lewis Watson, Esq. 

To Thee fair Excellence ! I fly, 
And in thy Bosom beg to die ! 

The Carnation. 
Telle, aimable en son air, mais humble dans son Style, 
Doit €clater sans pompe une Elegante Idylle. Boileau. 

Hail, wedded Loye ! 

Perpetual Fountain of domestic Sweets ! Milton. 

By R. Dyer. London, 1753. 




H 

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The handsomest monument in Rockingham Church is a marble 
statue to Lady Oxenden, the second daughter of Edward, the second 
Baron Rockingham. She married Sir Thomas Oxenden> of 
Wingham Kent 3 died in 1 734 ; and was buried in Rockingham 
Church. The beautiful monument was erected by her nephew, the 
Hon. Charles Leigh. The sculptor is unknown. "That he was 
master of his art is apparent. The drapery is folded with taste and 
classic simplicity, the turn of the limbs elegant 3 the countenance 
noble; and the tout ensemble of the figure at once dignified and 
graceful.*' (Hyett). Lady Oxenden is represented as Diana, the 
huntress, a character which the graceful strength of the limbs well 
expresses. The pedestal bears the following inscription : — 

Hon: Domina Arabella Oxenden 

Qu88 Spe Resorrectionis beatsB 

Joxta hoc Marmor oomppni yoluit 

Fuit nata secunda Edwardi Baronis Rockingham 

Et uxor Domini Jacobi Oxenden 

De Dean in Com: Cantii Baronetti. 

Nata est Mar: 18 anno Dom: 1660. Et obiit 

Jan: 14, 1734. 

Et ne officio suo deesse videretur 

Hon: Carolus Leigh de Leigh ton in Agro Bedford: 

Filiius secnndus Thomse Baronis Leigh 

De Stoneleigh in Agro Warwicensis 

Et UlustrissimsB Eleanoree uxoris ejus 

Filiae natu maximse prsedicti 

Edwardi Baronis Rockingham 

EvxapiTiac ergo in Materteram suam 

Dominam Arabellam Oxenden 

Moniunentum hoc non ambitiose 

Sed pie extructum in ejus Memoriam posuit. 

The accompanying engraving of the monument is presented to 
these pages by Mr. G. L. Watson and the Rev. H. J. Bigge ; the 
woodcuts are given by permission of Mr. Albert Hartshorne. 

Charles Dickens was more than once an honoured visitor to 
Rockingham, and he treasured till his death a copy of a privately 
printed book on the castle, given him by the Hon. Richard Watson, 
the then owner of Rockingham, as a souvenir. This book — 
Rockingham Castle: its Antiquity and History, Drawn from the 
National Records, By Rev. C. H. Hartshorne, m.a. — was printed in 
185a *'for Private Distribution." The copy presented to Dickens 
contains the inscription : ** Charles Dickens. With kindest regards. 



Rockingham, March, 1852." It passed to Messrs. Sotheran's at the 
novelist's demise, aud was secured from them by Mr. John Taylor of 
Northampton ; and the volume, bound in morocco by J. Cljde^ is 
now in tbe Taylor Collection of Local Literature in the Northampton 
Public Library. 

Mr. George Lewis Watson, the present owner of Rockingham, 
married on January ist, 1867, Laura Maria, daughter of the Rev. Sir 
John H. Seymour, Bart. She died in March, 1893, and was buried 00 
the 25th of that month at Rockingham. She left no children. His 
next brother, Edward Spencer Watson, who entered the army and was 
present at the Fall of Lucknow, died in January, 1889, leaving by. his 
wife, Mary Blanche, daughter of the late Mr. George Hall and Mary 
Viscountess Hood, one son and ten daughters. The son, Henry 
George, was a sub-lieutenant in the Northamptonshire Militia. He died 
through an accidental fall from a window at Weedon Grarrison, on 
June 13th, 1893, at the age of 19. The funeral of the deceased took 
place in Rockingham churchyard on June 17th 3 in the presence of 
a large circle of friends and many of the officers of the Northamp- 
tonshire Militia, including Colonel Lord Burghley, m.p., Colonel 
S. G. Stopford Sackville, and Colonel E. P. Monckton. 

The second and only living brother of Mr, George Lewis Watsou 
is the Eev. Wentworth Watson, formerly vicar of Monmouth, and 
now vicar of S. Thomas the Martyr, Oxford. He is unmarried. 
The other two children of the Hon. Richard Watson are Mary 
Georgina, the wife of Vice-Admiral Sir Michael Culme Seymour, 
Bart. I and Lavinia Grace, the wife of Baron Eugen von Roeder. 



One of the saddest pages in the history of Rockingham castle is 
due to the shadow cast by a tragedy in the noble family of Sondes. 
Lewis, the third Baron Watson, married, before he succeeded to the 
title, Catherine, the youngest daughter of Sir George Sondes, of 
Tree's Court, Kent. The marriage took place in 1677. '^^ bride had 
two half-brothers who grew to man's estate — George and Freeman. 
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Sir George, the father, espoused 
the royal cause, and fell under the ban of the parliament His 
estates were sequestered, and he himself suffered a series of im- 
prisonments (or as he quaintly calls them " Clappings-up ") and 
annoyances, which we feel difficult to realize. During a short interval 
of home between some of bis many " Clappings-up," he endured the 
most terrible of all his trials. His eldest son, George, appears to 



17 

have been a bright, cheerful young man, and his agreeable address 
made him a general favourite. On the other hand, Freeman, the 
younger, was of a morose, taciturn disposition, repelling rather 
than inviting friendship. The greater popularity his brother enjoyed 
amongst their companions so worked upon the jealous nature of 
Freeman, that a serious outbreak was inevitable sooner or later. The 
catastrophe came very soon and from a most trivial cause. The 
brothers each had a doublet almost identical in make. George, 
hastily taking a journey to London, the servant inadvertently put up 
Freeman's doublet in mistake for his. The error was discovered 
when it was taken to the tailor's in London, for repair. The tailor 
at once knew it to be Freeman's. When George returned home, 
his brother refused to believe it had been taken inadvertently, and ob- 
stinately declined to receive it back. The father remonstrated with 
him, and in vain endeavoured to reconcile him to his brother. Finding 
Freeman so unforgiving. Sir Greorge ap|)ears to have used some rather 
strong expressions, probably he held out threats. Freeman nursed 
his wrath, and a few nights afterwards, having secured a chopper and 
a dagger, attacked his sleeping brother in an upper chamber 
of the house, struck him a deadly blow on the head with the back of 
the cleaver, and stabbed him with the dagger. He was examined by 
the local magistrates, pleaded guilty, and was tried at the Assizes, at 
Maidstone, on Thursday, 9th August, 1655, before Judge Crooke, 
who sentenced him to death. He was executed on the aist August, 
exactly a fortnight after the murder. One accourt of his execution 
states that he was kept waiting for half an hour at the foot of the 
scaffold while one, curiously named Boreman, addressed to him a 
" godly exhortation." * 

This tragedy led to the publication of some curious pamphlets. 
The most remarkable of these was the following : 

Sir (George Sondes, his plaine NarratiYe to the World of all Passages upon 
the Death of his two Sonnes. London, 1666. 

This was a folio of forty pages, and was reprinted in The Harleian 
Miscellany, Sir George Sondes replies in this narrative to the 
assertions of ** godly ministers" that his calamities were the result 
of his own sins. Another pamphlet, illustrated with curious 
woodcuts, was : 

The Devils Reign upon Earth, being a Relation of several sad and bloudy 
Murthers lately committed, especially that of Sir Gteo. Sands his Son, 
upon his own Brother; set forth that others may be terrified from the 
like thereby, the like being never known in any Age before. 

London^ 1656. 
• Rockingham Castle and the Watsons, p. 97. 



i8 

The Mirrour of Mercy was another effusion of the same year : 
A ICirroTr of Meroy and Indgement. Or, an Exaot true Narrative of the 
Life and Death of Freeman Sonde Eeqnier, Sonne to Sir George Sonde, 
of Leee Conrt in Shelwich in Kent. Who being about the age of 19. 
for Mnrthering hie Elder Brother on Tuesday the 7th of August, was 
arraigned and condemned at Maidstone, Executed there on Tuesday 
the 21. of the same Moneth 1665. London, 1655. 

A broadsheet was headed : 

A Funeral Elegie, Upon the Death of Gk)orge Sonds, Esq ; &o. Who was 
killed by his Brother, Hr. Freeman Sonde, August the 7th. Anno 
Dom. 1665. By William Annand Junior, of Throwligh. Whereunto 
is annexed a Prayer, Compiled by his sorrowf ull Father Sir Qeorge 
Souds, and used in his Family during the Life of the said Freeman. 

London, 1665. 

K. 



^^u.c^i'- 







THE REV. F. W. GOTCH, LL.D. 



tl^t <Boic5 jTatttifg* 



QINCE about the micklle of last century this family has lived at 
y Kettering, where its members have occupied an influential 
position. The member of the family best kuowo to the public 
was the late Rev. F. W. Gotch, LL.D.y of Bristol, a learned Hebraist 
and one of the revisors of the Old Testament, who died ou the 17th 
oi May, 1890. A memoir, written by Dr. Trestrail and published in 
the Baptist Handbook for J 891, will serve to introduce not fmly him, 
but other members of the family. 

**My acquaintance with the family/' he says, "began in 1833. 
The eldest daughter, Mrs. Thomas Hepburn, still lives at Haslemere. 
There were at home three sons. John had charge of the manufac- 
tory, of a most animated and genial temper ; Thomas managed the 
bank, devoting his leisure to scientific pursuits in which his attain- 
ments were neither few nor small 5 our departed friend, who very 
early showed a decided preference for literature and science; and 
Miss Grotcb, a lady of personal and mental attractions. The social 
position of Mr. Gotch in the town was as high as it could be. 
Always ready to advise and help every one who came to him, he was 
universally respected and beloved. He held a foremost place in the 
politicd affairs of the county, and no important step was taken by 
the Liberal party without first consulting him. His position was 
quite unique. His influence was alike extensive and extraordinary. 
He was one of the wisest men I ever knew. Such were the happy 
surroundings, both domestic and public, under which our departed 
friend began life ; and their salutary influence, emanating from the 
calm and vigorous intellect of the father and the benign and gracious 



temper of his accomplished mother^ has accompaaied that life from 
its beginning to its end." 

The father of Dr. Grotch was Mr. J. C. Gotch, who was grandson of 
the first of the name who is known to have resided in Kettering. The 
fajnilj had always been Nonconformists, and had married Noncon- 
formists. Dr. Gotch's mother, whose *' benign and gracious temper" is 
mentioned in the quotation above, derived her descent by the mother's 
side from Colonel John Okey, a famous parliamentarian *' and zealous 
anabaptist," and one of the signatories to the warrant for the execu- 
tion of Charles i. It could hardly be from this source that Mrs. 
Gotch derived her disposition, if Carlyle*s description of him as the 
" fierce dragoon colonel ** be accurate. 

The earliest representative of the Gotch family of whom any 
particulars are known is one John, who died in 1784 at the age of 
69, and is buried in the grave-yard of Fuller chapel at ELettering, 
with the serious and characteristic epitaph : 

Death's dreadful advent is the mark of man. 

And every thoaght that misses it is blind. 

The eldest son of this John was Thomas, who was born in 1748 
and died in 1806. He had two brothers whose descendants have 
passed out of sight, save that Melbourne claims two of them among 
her prominent citizens. Thomas Gotch was a man of considerable 
ability, and attained a substantial position in his native town. After 
the fashion of energetic men in country places he was at the head of 
several considerable businesses. It was he who first started the manu- 
facture of boots and shoes in Kettering, a trade which has altogether 
eclipsed and even annihilated those for which the town was previously 
famous. In connection with the boot-making went the preparing of 
the chief material in the tan-yard, and the dressing of it in the currier's 
shop. But besides carrying on these occupations he allied himself 
with a banking concern which — as Keep, Grotch, and Cobb, then as 
Keep and Gotch, and subsequently Gotch and Sons — was the princi- 
pal bank of the district for some three-quarters of a century 5 till 
in 1857 — a period of general financial difficulty — it was compelled to 
suspend payment. His only child who survived infancy was John 
Cooper Gotch, and the affectionate reliance which he placed upon his 
son's help as he himself grew into years and became the victim of a 
tiresome malady, is illustrated in many letters, wherein the parent's 
desire for help and his reluctance to take his son from the fascina- 
tions of the place where he was learning his business (and whence 
he subsequently brought home his wife), are amusingly and almost 
pathetically mingled. 



There is not much material existing towards a biography of 
OTbomas Gotch. He appears oo one or two old brown hand-bills 
set forth in faded print as chairman of a meeting ; * and in the pro- 
ceedings under the Enclosure Act in 1804, he claims land for the 
poor of Kettering. It is from his letters that we learn most of him. 
There he shows himself a kind-hearted man, anxious about the wel- 
fare of his wife, his son, and his business, and proud of them all, 
particularly of his son. Now he is in Wales, then at Bqxton, then 
at Yarmouth, in search of relaxation and health. York, Liverpool, 
Chester, and Sbewsbury, were among other towns which he visited, 
travelling all the way in his chaise ; and mingling in his remarks 
blame of the roads with praises of the town to which they led. 
When the news of the Peace of Amiens reached Kettering none so 
anxious as he that his own house and his son's should be well illumi- 
nated, lest uncharitable tongues should say that the army-contractor 
-was sorry for the Peaces and so they **made good show at both 
houses, " " the best show in the town, " and the candles put high in 
the tree by Jos, Abrams with a long ladder, " made very pleasing 
appearance. '* 

The celebrated missionary, William Carey, (afterwards Dr. Carey) 
worked for Thomas Gotch before he left shoemaking for the study 
of Latin and Hebrew. Indeed it was Mr. Gotch who was the 
means of turning the great evangelist's energies to their nobler pur- 
pose, for seeing the bent of Carey's genius, he gave him a weekly 
sum — a shilling more than he earned by shoemaking — so that he 
might devote his whole time to his studies. In later years it was at 
Mr. Gotch's house that Dr. Carey, Andrew Fuller, and others, met to 
prepare for the metre formal meeting at which the first Missionary 
Society was founded — a society which has recently celebrated the 
centenary of its existence. 

* The most interestmg of these was ''A respectable meeting of the 
Inhabitants of this Parish, held at the White Hart Inn [now the Royal Hotel] 
on the 6th of August, 1803, Mr. Gotch, Senior, in the Chair; ** when the following 
resolution, among others, was passed: — *'That in the present awful and 
alarming crisis, when our Country is menaced with Invasion by a powerful, 
ambitious, and implacable Enemy, we feel it to be our incumbent duty, to 
unite in Defence of our King and Country, that under the Blessings of Divine 
Providence, we may hand down to our Posterity those invaluable Privileges of 
Civil and Religious Liberty, for which our Ancestors bled, and which we now 
possess under the G-ovemment of our most Gracious and beloved Sovereign. 

** Signed, Thoicas Gotoh, 

*« Chairman." 

One outcome of this meeting was the formation of a corps of Volunteers, 
of which Mr. J. C. Gotch was captain, as mentioned in the text. 



Thomas Gotch^ *' after an active and useful life, *' as bis epitaph 
saySy died on Januraj aoth, i8o6» and tbe whole of his property 
together with tbe management of his large business concerns devolved 
upon his son John Cooper. In that year the following note occurs 
in the son's hand-writing in his private stock-book. '* By the 
lamented death of a much loved and valued Father, the whole of 
tbe trade devolved upon mei of course a considerable accession 
was made to my property by his landed estates — may I have grace to 
improve whatever Providence may impart unto me, and, while I 
lament the death of my much honoured parent, may I follow his 
steps in all that is praiseworthy and acceptable to God." This was 
no idle aspiration, for all who knew him will bear witness to his 
earnest and unafiected piety, a quality which will always command 
respect, whether shewn by tbe orthodox or unorthodox. 

John Cooper Gotch continued to improve the excellent |x>sition 
which he inherited from bis father, and from that time till his death 
he took a leading part in all matters connected with the welfare of 
the town of Kettering. In 1808, he was captain of the volunteer 
corps, raised, in common with many others all over the country, for 
the purpose of repelling the invasion threatened by N.apoleon, and 
on July 25 of that year a handsome sword was presented to him by 
the non-commissioned officers and privates of the corps in recognition 
of his energy in its management and training. The " scene of inno- 
cent hilarity " that followed the presentation is feelingly described in 
The Northampton Mercury of 30th July, 1808. But though prepared 
if necessary to fight for his country's freedom, he was equally ready to 
avert useless strife, and on one occasion when visiting at Althorp, he 
and the late Rev. Thomas Toller were by' their persuasions the means 
of preventing a duel between two hot-headed fellow-guests. 

In the politics of his day he was an important factor. Locally 
he was the leader of the Liberal party, and through Lord Althorp, 
who had a high respect for his judgment, his views, particularly 
on questions affecting Nonconformists, had no little weight with 
the Ministers of tbe day. Numberless letters passed between him 
and various members of the two Houses of Parliament, particularly 
Lord Althorp, Earl Fitzwilliam, and Lord Milton, ranging from 
the year 1814 up to 1847. '^^o of these from Lord AlthoVp are 
of sufficient interest to be inserted. 
My dear Sir, 

Brougham mtends to proceed with his bill — ^the rest of this letter I 
write to yoa in confidence and shall be obliged to you not to state what I say. 
I spoke to Brougham about his bill and told him I thought he was giving too 
much power to the Parsons, and that I was rather surprised from my 
knowledge of his opinion that he should do so. He answered me " nonsense, 



if the Dissenters know what they are about they will support my bill and in 
the end throw the Parsons entirely oyer ; If they oppose it they are giving the 
Parsons who are many of them enemies to education an opportunity of throwing 
the blame of opposing it upon the Dissenters and yon may depend upon me 
will not give the Clergy one inch more of power than is absolutely necessary/' 
These were as far as I recollect his words, I am sure they were the substance of 
-what he said to me and he added that Win Smith and many of the leading 
Dissenters here were favourable to his bill. This is all I know about the 
business and I have no doubt that Brougham is sincere in not intending to 
increase the power of the Church, he may certainly be mistaken. For myself 
I think you are under a great deal too many restrictions already and if you 
convince me that this bill will increase them, much as I wish well to the cause 
of education I shall oppose it. Another subject on which I was going to 
write to you is the recent conduct of the House of Commons ; No man now 
can gravely assert that they have any pretentions to say that they express the 
feelings of the cotmtry. If the people choose to submit well and good and 
they must be satisfied to be told by Lord Castlereagh that they have been 
under a delusion, but if there is a gprain of English spirit left Petitions for 
reform of Parliament will come from every Parish in the Kingdom ; County 
Petitions will not do but Parish Petitions are the things to look to. I do not 
mean that they should be for universal suffirage or anything of that kind, but 
generally for such a reform as will give the people a greater influence on the 
decisions of the House of Commons than they have at present. For really 
the House of Lords act more like the representatives of the people than the 
House of Commons. I must again beg you not to shew this letter to any one 
and to be cautious to whom you state what my opinions upon these two 
subjects are. B^U^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^ 

Yours most sincerely, 
Albany, Feb. 12, 1821 . Althoep. 

ISj dear Sir, 

I will present your petitions and of course support them whenever an 
opportunity offers. With respect to the present state of Politics I agree very 
much with you, we are unfortunately in a state that we have only of two evils 
to choose the least, and that is to support the present Ministers. I am not 
very sanguine as to any good being done but there is a chance; if the old 
Ministers came back into power there would be no chance at all. Our chance 
now is that Canning has no efficient support that can preserve his power 
except what he g^ts from the Whigs and it is therefore his interest to pursae 
such measures as will conciliate us. I fear however he has another power 
drawing him the contrary way. I put no confidence in his principles or 
inclinations, but I think he will do that which appears to be his interest and if 
I should be right in my opinion of what his interest is he may make a good 
Minister. 

House of Commons, Yours most sincerely, 

June 1, 1827. Ai/xhosp. 

The letters from Lord Fitzwilliam are chiefly concerned with 
local matters 5 but not a few of them indicate that the writer had freely 
placed at Mr. Gotch's disposal large sums of money in connection 
with the banking business. For although the shoe business was lucra- 



tive, it was chiefly as a banker that Mr. Gotch was known, and 
probably on this account he became treasurer to a great number of 
societies and undertakings in the district. Id the welfare of the poor 
of the town he took, like his father before him, a keen interest ; for 
many years he was chairman of the Board of Guardians, and it was 
during his tenure of that office that the present workhouse was built. 

Towards the close of his life his health prevented him from taking 
so active a part as he used in public affairs. His letters, which were 
remarkable for their easy and fluent diction, and the bold hand in 
which they were written, became short and irregular in their lines, 
and not infrequently one of his sons replied in his father's stead. 
One of his last public appearances upon an important occasion was 
when he presided in 1842, at one of the meetings celebrating the jubilee 
of the Baptist Missionary Society already referred to. He was auditor 
for the Baptist Missionary Society from 18 16 to 1820; and was on the 
general committee from 1830 to 1843. He was honorary member 
from the latter year till his death. In 1852 on May 23rd he died, 
and was buried with his fathers in the burial-ground of Fuller chapel. 
His epitaph does him no more than justice in saying that ** By his 
strict integrity, active benevolence, and Christian consistency, he 
secured in a remarkable degree the respect and esteem, not only of 
this Christian Church, of which he was for many years a Deacon, 
but also of all classes in this town and neighbourhood." * 

Of his wife, the mother of Dr. Gotch, there is not much to record. 
She was a Miss Davis, a daughter of John Lambe Davis of Chesham 
in Buckinghamshire, who, as well as his father before him, was the 
agent of the Dukes of Bedford. One of the Lambes from whom 
Mr. Davis was descended achieved the remarkable distinction of 
surviving an attack of the plague in 1665. Those who recollect Mrs. 
Gotch will remember how quiet, placid, and even devout she was, and 
will the better appreciate the following story. Some free-spoken 
squire being desirous of seeing Mr. Gotch called at his house. Mr. 
Gotch was out, but the visitor was shown in by the servant, who 
merely told her mistress she was wanted. The visitor was unknown 
to Mrs. Gotch and no doubt her face indicated some measure of sur- 
prise upon her suddenly confronting a stranger. In recounting the 
circumstances afterwards in his own way, the squire described 
how he had been shown in, how Mrs. Gotch had entered the room, 
and how on seeing him she exclaimed, " And who the d — 1 are you ? '* 

* At the time of the secession of Mr. Jenkinson from the "Little Meeting,** 
[now the Fuller Church] during the pastorate of the Rev. J. K. Hall, Mr. 
Jenkinson addressed his case to the public in the form of Letters to Mr. 
J. C. Gotch. 



Mrs. Gotch survived her husband some three years 5 his daughter 
Frances only a few months. And so the house where his own 
youth had been spent, from which his father retired to make way 
for the son after his marriage, the house which had' witnessed 
one of the earliest movements towards the formation of the Baptist 
Missionary Society, which had' been illuminated for joy at the Peace 
of Amiens, and which had never been clouded with the gloom of 
death, became for some years a house of mourning. 

Talent as distinguished from genius is undoubtedly hereditary, 
and from such progenitors we look for sons who shall be men of 
mark. There were three (as mentioned by Dr.r Trestrail), John 
Davis, Thomas Henry, and Frederic William, who growing to man's 
estate in that prosperous little Midland town, which reminds us 
so pleasantly of Mrs. GaskelPs " Cranford," gave evidence that they 
-would worthily uphold the traditions of their sires. In accordance 
with popular belief in the case of three brothers, the youngest was the 
most distinguished, and our narrative will mainly concern itself with 
him. It was not till he had reached the age of 22 that Frederic 
"William Gotch decided on his career for life. In a letter dated 25 
May, 1830, he tells his father that some months before, Mr. Toller 
(the Rev. Thomas Northcote Toller, distinguished father of distin- 
guished son) had advised him seriously to consider the propriety of 
"engaging in the ministry,*' and had pointed out that his already 
developed taste for biblical studies would, if united with real piety, 
prove a great advantage in that career. Such advice from such a man 
was regarded as " a call," and ere long Mr. F. W. Gotch was entered 
a student at Bristol Baptist College, whence he proceeded to Trinity 
College, Dublin (the English Universities being then of course barred 
to Dissenters). The Biblical and other studies which he had pursued 
after leaving school now stood him in good stead, and he readily 
obtained his b.a. degree, which was followed in due course by the m.a., 
and later by that of ll.d. He was in general little concerned as to 
personal honours and repute 5 but this last degree did for a time cause 
him some solicitude. As soon as the world began to dub him 
*' Dr. Gotch " he saw the importance to his character that it should be 
known his doctorship was not of that doubtful order which since the 
days of Dr. Goldsmith has been too rife both in medicine and 
divinity. It is hard therefore that the obituary notice of him in the 
handbook of his denomination already referred to labels him d.d. 

Such a point as this would have roused his sense of humour, a 
quality for which the family is notable. It was a marked characteristic 
of both his brothers, especially Thomas, and is not wanting to the 
third generation. The sense of humour is an invaluable possession, it 



8 

is as a panoply to a man in many of the hardest passes of life, and 
from day to day is always a solace and a refuge. It is apt however to 
leave its possessor reputable rather than great ; a man of humour will 
not make a fool of himself, but neither will he do those great deeds 
which necessitate running the risk of looking like a fool in the doing. 
We say this not unmindful that some of the great men of action were 
men of humour too. For good or ill, however, the family under notice 
bore this trait ; as when Thomas, already 86 years of age, genially 
told a son who had just been visiting the sick rooms of various mem- 
bers of the family suffering from influenza, and who remarked that 
he had been the round of the wards, ** and now you have come to the 
incurable ward;" or when Dr. Gotch explained among friends the 
advantage he enjoyed as a Nonconformist Revisionist, because he 
ranked with the fiishops, whereas if he had been of the Establishment 
he must have figured as an archdeacon or a rural dean. 

In 1836 Dr. Gotch left Dublin and became the pastor of a small 
church of 67 members at fioxmoor. It may be thought that a rural 
church of few members was little likely to appreciate the learning 
and scholarship which had now become his special characteristic, and 
possibly with truth; but no such thought would appear to have 
disturbed Dr. Gotch, who was perfectly free from personal vanity, and 
in after years would say that he should have found full occupation for 
thought and energy had it been his lot to spend his whole life in that 
service. It is a curious fact that another eminent Hebraist, the Rev. 
B. P. Pratten, was among his successors in the pastorate of Boxmoor. 
By the year 1841 his varied powers had become so clearly recognized 
that he was appointed " Tutor of Philosophy and Natural Science ** 
at the Stepney Baptist College. 

These subjects will surprise those who have thought of him mainly 
as a student of language — a Hebraist before all — but Dr. Gotch was 
by nature and by early training a man of science. His elder brothers, 
John and Thomas, as well as he, had been pupils at '' Mr. Com field's 
Academy" in Northampton.* Mr. Comfield was evidently an original 
fellow, and probably far from an ideal schoolmaster except in this, 
that he held the enthusiastic admiration of his scholars and imbued 
them with a love of learning, of art, or of science, which was worth 
more than mere instruction. He was himself a keen astronomer and 
a clever mechanic, making his own telescopes and (what is more than 
mechanic's work) grinding the lenses himself. In Thomas Henry 
Gotch he had a most apt pupil, whose love of scientific pursuits lasted 
throughont the 70 years to which his life was prolonged after he left 

• Mr. Cornfield's school was in Horse Market, the south comer of St. Mary's 
street. In 1768 it was the residence of *<The Revd Mr. Ryland." 



school, and whose memory for technical deUils of astronomy (for 
the distances and dimensions of the planets for instance), was a 
marvel to those who were fresh from the study of soch matters. 
Thomas however was only able in his early years to devote his 
leisure to such purstittSy and in later times trouble and ill health 
prevented any sedulous application, but his one publication, Logar^ 
iikmic and Trigonometric Tables^ which appeared in 1836, wiB give 
some measure of his powers and of his industry. Such tables were 
then less common and far less correct than now, and these had their 
origin in the desire to give the world a correct set in a volume of 
convenient size. The labour involved in the mere correction of 
proofs was appalling, to say nothing of the original labour of calcula- 
tion. A volume of 300 pages of closely printed figures, 1 1 columns to 
a page, was read and re-read with its predecessors, with Callet's tables 
oi 1783, with Hassler's American tables, with Professor Babbage's 
and with Bagay*s. The result of these comparisons was the 
detection of some errors in the tables of every compiler ; Babbage's 
were almost perfect, but ten errors were discovered and placed on 
record. The volume was published anonymously and copies can only 
be recognized by the imprint, "Kettering: printed by Joseph Toller j" 
the publishers were Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. We must hold it a 
great pity that the name was withheld — a man should have the credit of 
his work, and a man's work should have the credit of its author's 
character and attainments, but such abstention was characteristic of 
Thomas 5 and it was characteristic of Frederic, most of whose literary 
labours were anonymous, appearing in such works as the Encyclo- 
pedia Brilannica, Dr. William Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Dr. 
Kitto*s Cyclopcedia^ &c. 

Such early scientific associations make it less surpriskig that 
Dr. Gotch should be at home as a tutor of natural science, and in 
point of fact his scientific aptitude was of great use to him throughout 
bis career, and lie would often thereby impart interest to what had 
seemed before the merest details of old-world history. How much 
we read of the month of Abib or Nisan, of the Feast of Weeks, or the 
Feast of Tabernacles, and to how little purpose; but Dr. Gk)tch readily 
seized this great fact, that by dating the commencement of their year 
according to the Feasts, which were themselves dependent on the 
harvest, the Israelites enjoyed a practical solution of a problem which 
has been more or less troublesome till our own day, namely, to keep 
the day which is reckoned to begin the year immovable as regards the 
seasons. Owing to the fact that a year contains no exact number of 
weeks and no exact number of days, any ordinary reckoning will 



xo 



make the year either a little too short or a little too long, and in course 
of time the seasons will creep round to occupy quite other dates 
from those at which they started 3 so much has this been the case, 
even amongst civilized peoples, that Julius Caesar was obliged to 
decree a year of 445 days to set the calendar right, and we ourselves 
marvel at the May-day games of our ancestors, forgetting that the 
May-day sung by poets was ix days nearer the summer than our 
own. This bond then between the Jewish calendar and the Jewish 
harvest opens up questions full of interest. Was their calendar a 
Grod-given institution ? If not, how came they to know the need of 
varying it, a knowledge gained by later peoples only after centuries 
of error ? 

Dr. Gotch soon found that he was better fitted for the work of 
the tutor than that of the pastor, and in X845 ^^ ^^^ invited to take 
the post of classical and mathematical tutor at the Bristol Baptist 
College. The invitation was accepted^ and in Bristol he remained 
thenceforward to the end of his days, filling successively the offices 
of resident tutor, president, and honorary president of the college. 
Abundant testimony has been borne by students, dating both from 
his earlier and his later years, to the value of his tutorial work. One 
writes, '* He had by his kindness and by the depth and clearness of 
his teaching, great power over his students j power which awoke and 
quickened their mind and set it a-thinking for itself in its own way 
more conscientiously and earnestly than it had ever thought before." 
Another writes " He was both great and good, wise and broad-hearted, 
and I loved him deeply.** A third says "Truly his patience and 
forbearance were inexhaustible. We students were infinitely proud 
of him, and knew of no one greater or better." 

Here shines out a trait of character which brings us again to the 
family. Where that placidity originated who shall say ? But it was 
very marked in his mother, whose " benign and gracious temper, *' 
was proverbial. Placidity is not uncommon, but placidity combined 
with power is, and has, great command over those brought 
within its range. Such placidity was possessed by Dr. Gotch, and by 
most of his brothers and sisters, especially by his brother Thomas, 
whose eldest son has said that looking back over 40 years he could 
never remember his father being out of temper, and that the occasion 
when he was most moved was when some impudent gardener of 
adjoining property cut over-hanging branches from the fine old 
chestnut-tree that adorned his garden. The offence touched him to 
the quick, and his hasty strides, his countenance a shade paler than 
usual, and the quiet words " I am very sorry you have done that, I am 



II 

very sorry you have done that/* were more terrible than the fiercest 
rage of another man. 

Mr. Aid is Wright, the secretary of the Old Testament Revision 
Company, says of Dr. Gotch, " but above all he was distinguished by 
an unruffled sweetness of temper, which prevailed in the most 
i^armly-contested discussions." Imagination pictures bishops, red 
-with fury, pacified by the intervention of a sectary. 

Dr. Gotch regarded his share in the revision of the Old Testament 
as the great work of his life. The authorities of the Bristol College 
were very ready, when he was invited to join the company, to afford 
facilities for his engaging in the work, but had this not been possible 
there would have been no hesitation as to his choice. He had edited 
the Revised English Bible to the end of the Pentateuch, published in 
1877, and was editor of the Old Testament portion of what has been 
called " the beautiful and scholarly edition of the Bible, published 
by the Religious Tract Society." Prior to this he had been examiner 
in Hebrew to the London University. From the establishment of the 
Revision Company he was most regular in attendance, rarely failing 
to be present till towards the close of 1882, when his health began to 
give way. Mr. Aldis Wright has testified to his instinctive feeling 
for the niceties of our language, to the value of his good taste and 
natural elegance of mind, and to the soundness of judgment always 
shewn in his suggestions. Dr. Gotch, though unable to attend all the 
meetings up to the completion of the work, was yet happy in living to 
see that completion. He passed away in 1 890, at the age of 82, and 
was followed in the next year by his brother Thomas who had well- 
nigh completed his 87th year. Their eldest sister at the time these 
lines are written still lives a sweet and gracious old lady of 91. 

Among other distinctions obtained by Dr. Gotch may be mentioned 
the following: — He was elected President of the Baptist Union, 
1868. Before retiring from active service as college president, he 
was presented with his portrait, which now hangs in the Lecture 
Hall of the college, Stokes Croft, Bristol, with those of former 
presidents. The college library was enriched by many valuable gifts 
of books by his generosity. He was one of the members of the 
committee of the Baptist Missionary Society ; a member of the first 
Bristol School Board 5 and one of the council of the University 
College of Bristol. Besides occcasional contributions to magazines, 
he was the writer of the article on the " Baptists " in the Encyclo' 
pcedia Britannica, He wrote a number of hymns (translated from 
the German), two of which are in Psalms and Hymns for the Use 
of the Baptist Denomination^ "Who, as Thou, makes blest," and 



11 

"Through many changeful morrows ;•' others appeared in magazines. 
Amongst his lectures to his students there was a remarkable series 
on the ''Atonement/' but it has not been published. 

The title of Mr. T. H. Gotch's anonymous work on Logarithmic 

Tables (see anie, p. 9) is: — 

Logarithmio and Trigonometrio Tables, to Seren Plaoes of Decimals. Contaioing 
the Logarithms of the Natural Numbers, from 1 to 100,000, and Logarithmic 
Sioes, TaogiDDts, Cotangents and Cosines to erery Ten Seconds for the First 
Fire Degrees, and to oTery Thirty Seconds for the Remainder of the Qaadrant. 

London, 1836. 
rKsTTBBXve : Printed by Joseph Toller.] 

The following list of Dr. Gotch*s works has been collated by Mr. 

John Taylor from his Bibliotkeca Northantonemis : — 

The Fourth Annual Address of the Ministers of the Berts, and South Beds. 
Association of Baptist Churches, to the Churches they Represent : Read at the 
Annual Meeting held at Box Moor, May 15th 1839. ' Ilemel Hempstead. 

An Address to Students. 1846. 

Address delivered at the Funeral of the Rer. Thomas SteSe Crisp, by the Rbt. 
Edward Steane, D.D. ; together with the Funeral Sermon, preached by the 
Rer. FRRDEnro William Gotch, LIj.D., Resident Tutor of the Bristol Baptist 
College (1868). London. 

The Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. A Discourse, delivered before the Bristol 
Association of Baptist Churches, held at Bath, on Thursday, June 12, 1851. 

London, 

The Present Crisis x^onsidered as Affecting the Baptist Denomination ; being the 
Inaugural Address of the Rev. F. W. Gotch, IiL.D., chairman. At the Annual 
Session of the Baptist Union, April 27, 1868. London, 1868. 

Christ the Centre. Being the Inaugural Address of the Rey. F. W. Gotch, LL.D., 
Chairman, at the Autumnal Meeting of the Baptist Union, October 14, 1868. 

Briitol, 1868. 

A Critical Examination of the Rendering of the Word BAIITIZQ in the Ancient 
and Many of the Modem Versions of the New Testament, with especial 
Reference to Dr. Henderson's Animadversions upon Mr. Greenfield's Statements 
on the Subject. London. 

Charge Deliyered to the Rev. W. H. McMechan, on his Designation as a Missionary 
to China, at King Street Chapel, Bristol, June 23, 1863. London, 

Revised English Bible. The Holy Bible: according to the Authorised Version, 

compared with the Hebrew and Greek Texts, and carefully Revised ; Arranged 

in Paragraphs and Sections ; with Sapplementary Notes, References to Parallel 

and Illustrative Passages, Chronological Tables, and Maps. London [1877]. 

Oenesis to Deuteronomy, by F. W. Gotoh. 

A Supplement to Tiscbendorf s Reliquise ex Incendio Erepta Codicis Celeberrimi 
Cottoniani contained in his Monumenta Sacra Inedita Nova Collectio Tomos 
II. Together with a Synopsis of the Codex edited by Frederic William €k>tcb, 
M.A., LL.D., President of the Baptist College, Bristol. London^ 1881. 



13 

Tlie following gives the names of the Gotches descended from 
John Cooper Gotch : — 

Children of John Cooper Gotch — 

1. Mary Ann Gotch, m. Thomas Hepburn] has several children. 

2. John Davis Gotch, d. unmarried. 

3. Thomas Henry Gotch^ m. Mary Anne Gale. 

4. Frederic "William Gotch, ll.d., m. 1. — Charlotte Hepburn. 

a.— S .H. Foster. 

5. Frances Gotch, d. unmarried. 

Children of Thomas Henry Gotch — 

1. Henry Gale Gotch, member of the Alpine Club, was nine 

years hon. conductor of Kettering Choral Society. 

2. Davis Frederic Gotch, chairman of Kettering School Board. 

3. John Alfred Gotch, f.s.a., f.r.i.b.a., author of The Buildings 

Erected by Sir Thomas Tresharn, 1883 -, A Short Account of 
Haddon Hall, 18895 Holiday Journeys in Northamptonshire, 
1889; Kirly Hall, 18925 The Architecture of the Renaissance 
in England, 18925 and various papers in Architectural 
Journals. 
. 4. Thomas Cooper Gotch, member of the Royal Anglo- 
Australian Society of Artists, and one of the founders of 
the New English Art Club. 
5. Jessie Gotch. 

Children of Rev. Frederic William Gotch — 
By first marriage — 
William Hepburn Gotch. 
By second marriage — 

1. Alice Foster Gotch. 

2. Katherine Frances Gotch. 

3. Francis Gotch, Hon. m.a. (Oxon.), b.a., b.sc. London, f.r.s.. 

Professor of Physiology, University College, Liverpool 
(Victoria University), author of various scientific papers 
in the Philosophical Transactions and Proceedings of the 
Royal Society, dealing with the functions of the central 
nervous system 5 of the electric organs of fishes; of the 
functions of muscle, etc. 

4. Mary Davis Gotch. 



I* 

The following memorial stones are erected in the Fuller Chapel 
Burial Ground, Kettering :— 

Inscription upon an upright stone : 

Xn MemoTy 

of John Gk>TOH who 

Departed this life Octo^' 

ye 31«t 1784 Aged 59. 

Also of AiTNs his wife 

who Died May ye 41tt 1784. 

Aged 65 Yean 

Death' s.dreadful adyent is the mark of man, 
And every thought that misses it is hlind. 

Inscriptions upon the four sides of a massive tomb : — 

Saored Sacred 

to the memory of to the Memory of 

Mr Thoxab Ootoh Anitb 

who after an active and useful life Relict of the late 

supported in his last moments Mr Thoxaa Gk>TOH 

hy the hope of Salvation thro' Christ who died May the 5tii 1816 

died January 20 1806 Aged 71 Years. 

Aged 57 Years. g^ ye followers of them who 
The path of the just ' through faith and patience 

shineth more and more inherit the promises, 
unto the perfect day. 

In Memory of 

John Coopss Gotoh 

Who died on the 23rd of May 1852, Aged 80 years. 

By his strict integ^ty, active benevolence, and Christian consistency 
he secured in a remarkable degree the respect and esteem 
not only of this Christian Church, of which he was for many years a Deacon 
but also of all classes in this Town and Neighbourhood. 

Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : 

yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours ; 

and their works do follow them. Bey. ziv. 13. 

In Memory of 

Maby Anne, Relict of John Coofeb Gotoh 

Who Died December 19th 1854 Aged 84 Years. 

I have waited for thy Salvation, O Lord Gen. zlix. 18 

Also of Fbanoes 
Daughter of John C. and Mary Anne Gotoh 
Who died January 16, 1853, Aged 43 Years 

Patient in tribulation Bom. zii. 12. 



'5 



Inscription upon a fiat ^one : 

John Davis Gotoh 

bom 
September 23rd 1802 

died 
December IStb 1870 

Kabt Anns 

Wife of Thomas Henry Gotoh 
Bom June 26th i816 
Died Oct. 26th 1886. 

Thoxab Hextby Gotoh 

bom 

September Z^d 1804 

died 
August 13th 1891. 



The Northamptonshire Baptist Provident Society formed at 
Northampton October 6, 1S13, has had among its most prominent 
workers and supporters several members of the Gotch family. Upon 
the death of its first treasurer, Mr. Joseph Hall, of Northampton, 
Mr. J. C. Gotch was appointed to that office on June i, 18 14. 
Upon his death in 1852, Mr. J. Davis Gotch was appointed in 
his place and held the appointment till 1857. In 1866 Mr. J. D. 
Gotch repaid the loss sustained by the society through the failure in 
1857 of the bank carried on by Messrs. Gotch & Sons, and was 
re-appointed treasurer in 1869. He was only spared a=^short time to 
fulfil the duties of his office, as he died in December, 1&70, and was 
succeeded by his brother Mr. T. H. Gotch. In 1880 Mr. Davis F. 
Gotch was appointed secretary in succession to the Rev. J. B. Myers -, 
and on the death of bis father, he was appointed treasurer in 1892. 
The Rev. A. James, b.a., of Thrapston succeeded him as secretary. 



i6 

Tbe following is a literal copy of a memorandnm made in 1854 of 
remioiscences of Dr. Carey and Mr. Thomas Gotch (see ante, p. 3) : 

It is DOW 67 years since the late Dr. Carey was ordained pastor 
of a small Baptist Church at Moulton near Northampton. I 
recollect when I was about 10 years old at my father's house in 
Clipston, it was on a Saturday, he was on his way to Arnsby (which 
is ao miles from Moulton) to supply there the following Sabbath, 
he had then walked from Moulton to Clipstone, a distance of 10 
miles, and had 10 miles farther to walk to Arnsby. My honoured 
father had been intimately acquainted with him for some years before, 
and he pressed him to stay and take an early cup of tea before he 
went .further. I well recollect my father saying to him ** I suppose 
you still work at your trade " (which was that of an army and navy 
shoemaker).' Mr. Carey promptly replied " No indeed I do not, for 
yesterday week I took in my work to Kettering and Mr. Gotch came 
into the warehouse just as I had emptied my bag, he took up one of 
the shoes, and said "let me see Carey how much do you earn a week.** 
I said about 9/- Sir. Mr. Gotch then said, " I have a secret to tell you 
which is this, I do not intend you should spoil any more of my 
leather, but you may proceed as fast as you can with your Latin, 
Greek, and Hebrew, and I will allow you from my own private purse 
10/- a week.'* With that sum, and ab* 5/- a week, which I get from 
my people at Moulton, I can make a comfortable Kving. (AJtho* 
at that time he had a wife and three children to provide for). Soon 
after this, Mr. Carey bad a call to the Baptist Church in Harvey 
Lane, Leicester, now under the pastoral care of the R ev, Mr. Mursell 
which rendered it unnecessary for a continuance of Mr. Gotch*s 
liberality. Still such an instance of individual liberality deserves to 
be recorded by the Baptists in particular. The Mr. Gotch alluded to 
was the grandfather (Thos. G. 1806) of the Rev. F. Gotch of 
Bristol Academy. Two others of his grandsons now reside at 
Kettering and carry on a very extensive army and navy shoe trade 
connected with the banking business, and happy for Kettering and 
its vicinity these gentlemen imbibe the same liberality of spirit, as 
did their worthy sire and grandsire. 

The MS. bears the following note : — 

Clipston July i6th 1854 
dictated by John Haddon of 
Clipston ? 



A PAPER 



ov 



Utiritans in |tortl^ampfonsl^TO, 



DATED i6 JULY, 1590. 



With Particulars of the "Glassies'' 

holden at the Bull in 

Northampton ; 



And of one Edmond Snape beeinge or pretending to be 
Curate of S. Peters in Northampton. 



F^om the original MS. in the British Museunu 
MS. Lans* 64, folio 51. 



TAYLOR & SON, PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS. 

1878. 



Articles wheremth ye Ministers of Northam, & Warwick shires are 
charged, etc. 16 July, 1590. 



fiirst^ they have agreed upon^ and appoynted amongest them selves 
certayne general! meetinge, w*h they call Synodes j and others more 
particulare in severall Shiers or Diocesses^ w'^h they call Classes. 

Item, some of the especiall places so appoynted for the Synodes, are — 
London/^Cambridge at tymes of commencement and Sturbridge 
f&yre, and Oxforde at the Act; becausse at those tymes and 
places they may assemble w* least suspition. 

It'm, in the sayde Synodes those there assembled treat and determine of 
such matters, as are eyther propownded unto them a newe, or have 
• bene debated before in the Classeis as fyt to be considered on and pro- 
vided for : And lykewise what course shalbe holden by the ministers 
in theyr severall places : w*h beinge concluded upon by the Synode 
it is holden autenticall^ and is decreed to be put accordinglye in ex- 
ecution. 

It'm, in the Classis beinge a more particulare assemblieof certeyne 
ministers in severall shires or Diocesses (accordinge to the ^ppoynt- 
ment of the generall Synodes) meetinge in some private place for the 
moste parte after a prayer there conceaved, and a se/mon or exercise 
made;It is signified by some that were present, what hath bene determi- 
ned in the last Synode : And then they doe deliberate as well for the 
better execution thereof, as allso what further poyntes they thincke 
convenient to be presented to the Consideraton of y* next Synode. 

It*m, accordinge to this place, sondrie, or at least one such Synode — 
or Synodes have bene holden at everie or some of y* sayde places and 
tymes afore specified; and namelie at or aboute Sturbridge ffajre 
tyme last at Cambridge. 



6. It'm, at all or some of such Synodes there have mett and bene assembled 
Dr. Whitakers, Mr. Cartwrighte, Knewstubbs, Travers, Charke, 
Egerton, Greneharo, Warde, fFIudd, Chatterton, Perkins^ — 
Dike, Snape, and others ; or some of them. 

7* Item at some of the sayde Synodes it hath bene debated, concluded, 
agreed on, and determined by all or moste voyces j that Such as cannot 
preache, are no ministers : that the Sacraments oughte not to be recea- 
▼ed at their handes ; that All one kinde of doctrine must be preached 
by those that favoure that caufse towchinge the erectinge or establishinge 
the govern-ment : that Everie minister in his charge shoulde by all 
holie and lawfull meanes endevoure to bringe in and establishe that 
govern-ment : that Ano athe, whereby a man might be tyed to reveale 
any thinge, w*^ may be penall to him selfe, or his faithfuU bretheren, 
is againste charitie 5 and needs not, or ought not to be taken j or to 
lyke effect, or some thinge tendinge that waye w* sundrie other poynts. 

8. Item, the determinatons made in Synode have bene published & 

signified in sundrie of the Assemblies called Classes, and by 
them assented unto to be put in execution. Namelie, a Classeis 
hath bene holden at the Bull in Northampton; in Mr. Sharpes 
howsse, minister of ffawesley and in Mr. Snapes chamber 5 and 
in everie or some of them ; where the same Decrees or Articles, and 
others have bene published and made knowne to be executed. 

9. It'm, the ministers in Northampton shier (who especiallye doe — 

assemble them selves at such Classes, and namelye were present at y« 
afore sayde Classes) are Mr. Snape, Stone, minister of 
•waikton *Wharton, Edwardes of Courtnoll, Spicer of Cookenoe, At- 
kins of Higham, ftletcher of Abington, Larke of Wellingbo- 
roughe, Prowdeloe of Weeden, Kinge of Coleworthe, Bare- 
bone, and others ; or some of them. 

10. It*m, Mr. Snape declaringe upon a^ tyme his issue of dealinge at 

Oxforde about the cominge of Mr. ffavoure th elder ; he decla- 
red this 09 the lyk^ forme of wordes to no lesse effect: Viz, he 
shewed, that in their Classes w*h they have in this shier of North- 
amptcn (as they have in moste places of the lande beside) they had 
concluded generallye that. The dumbe ministerie shoulde be taught 
to be noe ministerie at all. 

11. Item, he the sayde Snape then declared that in the same Classeis they 

had agreed upon this poynte 5 that they shoulde ioyntlye in their se- 
verall Charges and congregations teach all one kynde of doctrine 
tendinge to the erectinge of the government. 



19. Item, he declared in these, or the 1/ke wordes: How say you (sayde 
he) if we devise a waye^ whereby to shake of all the Anti-chri- 
stian yoke and government of the Bishopps : and will ioyntlie 
together erect the discipline and government all in one day. But 
peradventure it will not be yet this yeare and this halfe. 

13. It*m, that they woulde doe these things in such sorte by these j^ 

Classes^ that by the grace of god they (Viz, the Bishopps) 
shoulde never be able to prevayle againste it. 

14. It'm, .upon the first of Peter the 5th he declared, that in the 

Churche of god there oughte not to be anye government by Lo. 
Bishopps 3 but that there oughte to be a Christian equali- 
tie amonge the ministers of god; Nor the ministers of y« 
worde shoulde goe w^ their trowpes and traynes, as theyr 
manner is at these dayes. 

15. It*m, that the Discipline of the Churche is of an absolute ne- 

cessitie to the Churche; And that the Church oughte of 
necessitie to be governed by Pastors, Doctors^ Elders, 
Deacons, and Widowes; Wh he declared out* of y«" wordes 
of Peter -, The Elders, w** are amonge you. &c. 

16. That here one, and there one, picked out of the prophane and 

common multitude, and put aparte to serve the Lorde; maketh 
the Churche of god ; and not the generall multitude : out of y^ 
wordes of Peter, But you are a chosen generation. 

17. That as nothinge maketh a separaton betwene man and wife, but 

whoredome : so what soever beinge devised by the brayne of man, & 
is brought into the Churche to be used in the outwarde worshippe 
and service of god (seeme it never so good and godlye, never so 
holie) it is spirituall whoredome; out of the seconde Comman- 
dement. 

18. It'm, Mr. Snape beeinge demanded how a man coulde be a mi- 

nister of god, that stoode onelye by the authoritie of man in re- 
spect of his outwarde callinge, and fell at his comanndement ; 
Answered, that he had bene in such a perplexitie him selfe; 
that rather than he woulde have stoode by the vertue of anye 
letters of Orders, he woulde have bene hanged upon y« gallowes. 

19. It*m, Mr. Snape hath at sundrie tymes, or once at y* least 

in the hearinge of others declared, that before it were loDge; it 



shoulde be seene, that they woulde have this government by 
Doctors, Pastors, Elders, Deacons, and Widowes; and 
that in deede all, or some of the sayde ministers afore articula- 
ted have begon in theyr severall Cures to erect them, or some 
parte of them. 

ao. It'm, let the paper (w*h is a coppie of a certayne wrytinge sup- 
posed to have bene set downe by him the sayde Snape) be shewed 
unto him, and let him upon his oathe declare whether he doth 
not knowe or beleeve that the same is a true coppie of a wry- 
tinge set downe under his owne hand, or not. 



1. Edmonde Snape either heard of or feared a searche to have 

bene intended for bookes not autorized : and thereupon he caussed to 
be caried divers sortes of such bookes to one George Bevis a tan- 
ner, desiringe him to lay them up in some secret place -, who bestow- 
ed them thereupon in his barke-howsse. And afterwards the sayde 
Snape fetched away agayne the sayde bookes or moste of them ; but 
left 25 or there aboutes of the bookes called (A defence of the eccle- 
siasticall discipline) in 4° againste Mr. Bridges, w^ the saide Be- 
vis, and desired him to sell them after 14. or 16/ and they or some 
of them were by him the sayde Bevis according lie solde. 

2. It*m, Christopher Hodgekinson obteyned a promisse of y* sayde 

Snape ; that he woulde baptise his childe : but Snape added 
sayinge, you must then give it a Christian name allowed in y* scrip- 
tures. Then Hodgekinson tolde him, that his wives father, whose 
name was Richarde, desired to have the givinge of the name. Well 
sayde Snape) yo^ must doe as I bid yo^ least when yo'* come, the 
Congregation be troubled, Not w*stinge Hodgekinson thinkinge it 
woulde not have bene made a matter of such importance, caussed the 
Childe to be brought to St. Peters 5 and Snape proceeded in th* 
action (thoughenot accordinge to thebooke of comon prayer by lawe 
established) untill he came to the naminge of y* childe : but hearinge 
them callinge it Richarde, and that they would not give it anye o- 
ther name 5 he stayed there, and woulde not in anye case baptise the 
Childe. And so it was caried awaye thence, and was baptised 
the weeke foUowinge at AU-hallowes churche, and called Richarde. 

3. It'm the sayde Snape beeinge or pretending to be Curate of St. 

Peters in Northampton, doth not in his Ministratons reade the Con- 
fession, Absoluton. Psallmes, Lessons, Letanie^ Epistle, gospell; 



7 

Administreth the sacraments of baptisme and the supper, marieth, 
burieth, churcheth or giveth thanckes for weomen after Childe- 
burthe, visiteth the sycke, nor perfourmeth other partes of his 
dutie at all, or at least not accordinge to the forme prescribed by the 
booke of Common prayer authorized j but in some changeth, some 
partes omitteth^ and others addeth, choppeth, and mingleth it 
w* other prayers and speeches of his ow^ne &c, as it pleaseth his 
owne humor. 

It*m, sondrie Ministers who mett in one or more Synodes assembled 
w^in a yeare and an halfe last past and lesse, concluded and agreed 
that everie man in his severall charge shoulde indevoure to erect 
a government of Pasto's, governinge Elders, and Deacons: 
That they shoulde teache and houlde, that all ministers who are 
called accordinge to the order of the Churche of Englande to be an un- 
lawfull, or have an unlawfull callinge : And that such allreadie 
beeinge ministers, as stande affected well unto their Courses, and 
whom they dare trust, shoulde be induced to renownce their former 
callinge by Bishopps, and to take a newe approbaton by them in 
their Classis, beeinge an assemblie of sondrie ministers w^^in a 
certayne compasse in a shyer, and whereof they have aboute iiij. in 
a shier, or so manye as convenientlye may be : And that this is 
the Lordes ordinance, wherebye onelye they must stande in theyr mi- 
nisterit: And that the lyke approbation shalbe used in those that 
were not ministers before: And that after such callinge, they 
that were not ministers afore, may preache untill they be called to 
some certayne charge. At what tyme if the people of such place 
call them, then are they to be holden full ministers, and may mini- 
ster the sacraments. Never the lesse it is permitted, that y" 
shall goe to the Bishoppe for writinge (for their safe standinge in 
theyr callinge) as unto a Civill magistrate in a matter belonginge 
onelye to the out warde man, and none otherwise. fFor they holde, 
that thereby he receaveth not anye power to be a minister 3 or to 
lyke effect hath it bene concluded, or is practised amonges' 
them. 

It*m, in sondrie places of this realme such their determinatons have 
bene and are put in vre and practise : namelye in Northampton- 
shier, in ' Essex, SufFolke, Norfolke, Warwickshier, De- 
vonshier, Cornwall, &c. The sayde Snape renownceJ 
or woulde not stande in his ministerie by the callinge of the Bishoppe, 
and was agayne (as afore) allowed or called by the Classisj but 
woulde not thereupon administer the Lordes Supper. But afterwards 



8 

the pamhe of St. Peters afore sayde, or some of tbem, knowemge 
that by reason such determinatoD he might not accompte himaelfe a 
full minister, untill some particulare congregation had chosen 
him ; They did thereupon choose him for their minister : And by 
that callinge and as afore, doth he stande in his ministerie at this 
present, and not by the callinge of the Bishoppe. 

Item, one Larke not farre from Wellingboroughe in the sayde shier 
beeinge not afore a minister ftccordinge to the churche of Englande 
had the approbaton of the sayde Snape and others of a Classis up- 
pon tryall made of him : And then was by them willed for his safe 
standinge to goe to a Bishoppe (as to a Civill magistrate onelye) 
for writinge. 

It*m, accordinge to the usuall place concluded on in that behalfe, one 
Hocknell havinge bene 6. or 7. yeares afore a minister, beeiage 
to have a benefice was willed to bringe some testimoniall from the 
ministers of the sayde shier for his sufficiencie and conversatoa, 
(because moste patrones that eyther them selves be so affected, or 
have frende so bene, have bene dealt w* to such lyke effect.) Where- 
upon he cominge to the sayde Snape, was willed to renownce his 
first callinge, and not to stande by the Bishopps callinge into the mi- 
nisterie : And had to that purpose by him and his companions of 
the Classis a text given, and a daye prefixed to preach upon it : 
w*h was by Hocknell perfourmed before the Classis and others at 
St. Peters aforesayde. After w'h sermon the Classis alone 
beinge assembled, Hocknell was willed to stande aloofe. Then 
Penrie began to make a speeche, and to exhorte them to be carefull 
to call upon god and to deale w* out afiection in this action, kc. 
After w*h they fell to consultaton. Some lyked that he shoulde 
be admitted 5 and others misliked both becausse he had not delyve- 
red the Metaphore that was in his text; and becausse he was 
no grecian nor hebritian. Who ovor-weyinge the rest, Hocknell 
was called for, and in some sorte comended. But y* speaker 
of the Classis tolde him he must take more paynes at hid booke, before 
they woulde allowe of him as a fytt minister. Whereupon Hock- 
nell fell out w* them, and cpntemminge theyr Censures did proceede 
and tooke possession of his benefice. 

At the end of the MS. occurs : 
*' Sir, Be pleased to Transcribe this Copy, and return it as soon 
as possible pray send the proof back as soon as you can. From 
Mr. Leackes in the Old Baily.** 






^Y J. ^I-FRED -QOTCH, 
Fbllow of thb Botal IirsTrnTTB 07 B&itish Aeohitbots. 



Reprinted from |(ortl|amptons|^i:re iiotts ^ (^ttjems, 

Part XIV., 1887. 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. 



jlortfiampton : 

The Dryden Press: TAYLOR & SON, 9 College Street. 

1887. 



(gounb (ptjben+0 (j§ixii^}^hu* 



J^ MONG the many interesting villages of Northamptonshire not the 
y least honourable are the two Aldwinkles. In one was born 
Thomas Fuller, author of the "Worthies of England**; in the 
other, John Dryden. Many of the villages in the neighbourhood go in 
couples, being distinct parishes, yet close together. Such are fiarnwell 
All Saints and Barnwell Saint Andrew ; Cranford St. John and Cranford 
St. Andrew; Great and Little Weldon; Great and Little Oakley; and 
others. Of the two Aldwinkles the larger is St. Peter's ; its church, with 
a handsome decorated tower and spire, standing well up amid the 
cottages. It was here that Thomas Fuller was born, in 1608, his 
father being, as he tells us, the ** painful preacher," of the place. The 
epithet, appropriate enough to some preachers even now, had doubtless 
a different meaning to the Fuller than it has to us. But, however 
pleasant or wearisome it may have been to listen to the father, one 
has only to .read the son to like him. He was a man of portentous 
memory, and it is said that he could repeat a sermon verbatim after 
once hearing it — a matter for no small wonderment. 

When Fuller was three-and-twenty years old, when he had left his 
native village for Cambridge, and had left Cambridge again for some 
distant cure of souls, John Dryden was born in his grandfather's 
house, the parsonage of Aldwinkle All Saints. His father lived across 
the valley at Tichmarsh, where he had a little property, making him 
"passing rich on forty pounds a year"; but he was a stranger in the 
village, being the third son of Sir Erasmus Dryden, of Canon's 
Ashby, across on the other side of the county. One vei^ good 
reason for his settling at Tichmarsh was that he had married a niece 
of the squire. Sir John Pickering. The Pickerings had been long 
established at Tichmarsh, and lived in the manor-house on the south 



4 Round Dryden's Birthplace. 

side of the church. The house has entirely disappeared ; but, accord- 
ing to Bridges, it was "embatteled** on the south side, and had an 
•* embatteled '* turret. The Pickerings had moved thither out of the 
old manor- house, of which the ruins had lately been taken down 
when Bridges wrote. When Erasmus Dryden, father of the poet, 
came among the Pickerings they had been living in their new manor- 
house some seventy years. The head of the family was Sir John ; 
and his younger brother, Henry^ was rector of A Id winkle All Saints, 
'^ust across the Neft. It was with the Reverend Henry Pickering's 
daughter, Mary, that Erasmus Dryden fell in love, if a man with so 
learned a name could descend to so vulgar an emotion. Indeed, it is 
not on record that he did fall in love 3 all that is recorded is that the 
two were married on October ^i, 1630, at the little church of Pilton, 
some two mfiles further down the Nen. Why they should have gone 
into a strange parish to be married is not at all obvious. Pilton was 
a home of the Newton Treshams, their manor-house stands a few 
yards from the church, or rather — they would, perhaps, have preferred 
one to say — the church stands a few yards from their manor-house ; 
add why Erasmus "Drydon," as the register calls hun, and Mary 
Pickering ^ould have jaunted away to Pilton to be married, is a 
question which the curious may answer at their leisure. 

It is not so surprising to find John Dryden making his entry into the 
world in his mcftber's old home — the rectory at Aldwinkle. He was 
the firstborn, and very likely the parsonage was a more comfortable 
phce than the elder Dryden's house, if he kept it up with anything 
likie forty pounds a year. But conjecture on this point would, 
perhaps, be idle, for legend assigns no particular house to Erasmus 
Dryden, and legend is the only authority for locating his eldest son's 
birth at Aldwinkle. But legend has maintained the same story since 
the poet's own time, and Bridges, who wrote somd ao years after 
Dryden's death, roundly asserts that "in the parsonage house of 
Aldwinkle All Saints was born Mr. Drydfen the poet." Much of the 
uectory is certainly older than the time in question 3 the part facing 
the road, in spite of the modem windows, is the oldest portion of the 
chouse ', and it is hete, in the room over the entrance, that glorious 
John is said to have been born. 

As his father lived at Tichmarsh, it is rather with thatvtflage than 
with Aldwinkle that Dryden's early recollections must have been 
associated. But, no doubt he frequetitly went from one house to the 



Round Dryden^s Birthplace. 5 

other ; down the hill from Tichmarsb, across the sluggish Nen, which 
\(rinds amid broad level meadows — in summer, waving with fragrant 
hay 3 in winter, often a wide and turbulent lake — and then up the gentle 
acclivity to where the church stands amid tall trees, its sunny side 
looking diagonally across the valley to the many pinnacled tower of 
Tichmarsh. Perhaps, when the sun was fierce, and the hay waggons 
vrere being piled with their fragrant burden, and the horses were 
standing head-and-tail in the shade^ switching the flies off each 
other's faces, the lad would take a dip in the quiet' Nen, and disport 
himself without fear of such intruders as {experto crede) the present 
day too freely affords, even in so retired a place as the river above 
Aldwiukle mill. 

But very soon after his potential swimming days had begun, the 
future poet left his home for Westminster School, and came no more 
to his native county, save as a visitor. Tichmarsh, Oundle, and Cot- 
terstock, he must have known as a man ; but Aldwinkle would have 
no further family interest for him> for his grandfather was dead, and 
the Rectory inhabited by strangers. The old man was buried in the 
churchyard, and over his body was raised a plain, massive tomb, on 
which may still be read, when the sun shines from a particular 
quarter of the heavens, the simple record of his birth and death. 
There is an epitaph now hardly legible ; it cannot be the work of 
the future laureate for be was then scarcely old enough to have under- 
taken the task^ and anyway he might well have been deterred by the 
efforts of his grandfather's brother in that species of composition. 
No one will venture to say that Dryden derived his poetic faculty from 
his mother's side, if the following epitaph to her uncle, a '* physitian," 
written by himself, may be taken as a specimen of his verse at its best : 

Be^er thou art Biok to death, more dan^r in 
Thy soule the less thon f eeleist, purge ant thy sin : 
Oh, seek to live ; I jstndied cures and found 
Christ's pretions blood best balm for every wound ; 
Bear eye, peruse, refourme, redeem, fulfill, 
My lines, thy life, tiliy tyme, God'fl holie i»ill. 
AH Viator. 

The great epitaph writer of the family was Mrs* Creed, wife of 
John Creed of Oundle, Usquire, a cousin of Dryden, and daughter to 
Sir Gilbert Pickering, of Tichmarsh. Dryden used to visit her pretty 
frequently, and after his death she wrote him an epitaph as long>^ 
winded as all the others to her family, with wluch she adorned the walls 



6 Round DryderCs Birthplace. 

of Ticb marsh church. When we read Dryden's verses, or his cousiu's 
wordy epitaphs, we feel how far we have left Mediaevalism behind, 
with its pithy hic-jacets and its crabbed rhymes. Less than two 
ceoturies lie between us with our bald sepulchral statements of birth 
and death, and John Creed with an epitaph half a page long. Nearly 
two centuries and a half lie between Mr. Creed's monument and the 
brass lying in Aldwinkle Chancel, whereon is graven " Hie jacet 
Williiis Aldewyncle Armig. qui obiit XXVIII. die Augusti A®, dni 
Milimo CCCC.LXIII. cuj aie ppicietur Deus." Surely our custom 
and that of William Aldewyncle's time is better than good Mrs. 
Creed's. It is curious how closely we have reverted to the Mediaeval 
type 5 but the invariable prayer of those brasses — that God would have 
mercy on the dead man's soul — is now only uttered over the con- 
demned murderer. 

The William Aldewyncle whose brass has just been mentioned 
seems to have been the last of his name. He lived and died long 
before Dryden's time. Doubtless in his day he was a man of author- 
ity, and one who played his part on life's stage with ability and 
applause \ but all his virtues, and all the deeds which he did, are of 
less interest to us now than the brass which simply records his death. 
The whole part which he played moves us not so much as his final 
exit. His sorrowful widow, to whom, no doubt, we owe his brass, 
consoled herself before long by marrying a certain William Chaum- 
bre, and it is to these worthies that Aldwinkle Church owes one of its 
finest features — the chauntry on the south side. . 

Bridges gives the reasons for the erection of this charming feature. 
" In the fourth year of Henry VII., William Chaumbre and Elizabeth, 
his wife, formerly the wife of William Aldewyncle, by deed dated the 
8 Nov., 1489, erected a chauntry at the altar of the Virgin Mary 
in the Church of All-Saints, Aldwincle, for the prosperity of the 
king, and Eliz. his consort 3 the safety of the founders while living, 
and for their souls after their decease \ and for the souls of Will. 
Aldewyncle, John Chambre, and Anne his wife, Maud Fossebrok, and 
others. For the support of John Selyman, chaplain, and his successors 
in the said chauntry, the founder gave the manor of Armston named 
Buren's-thing [here follow other descriptions]. He appoints also the 
chauntry priest to teach spelling and reading to six poor boys of 
Aldwincle, to be chosen, after the decease of the said William and 
Elizabeth Chaumbre, three by the chaplain, and three by the rector of 



Round DrydetCs Birthplace. 7 

S. Peter's, Aldwyncle ^ and that every night the said boys shall say 
for the souls of the founders the Psalm De profundisj with the prayers 
IncHna Domini, Etjidelium. The chaplain is directed to give every 
year, by four quarterly payments, xxvij. viiicf. to two poor persons of 
the said town. After the founder's death, the appointment of the 
chaplain is given to the abbat of Peterborough. In 1535, 26 Hen. 
YIII., the profits of this chauntry, William Peycok being chaplain, 
were rated at viii/. viif. viiiri., out of which was deducted, in alms to 
the poor, for the souls of William Aldewyncle, William and Elizabeth 
Chambers xxvif. ymd, in rents lesolute vii^. viiirf. In the thirty eighth 
year of this reign [i J47] it was granted, with the lands belonging to 
it, to Sir £dward Mountague. The chauntry-house, the ruins of 
which were lately pulled down, stood in Mr. Spinckes's yard, where 
human bones have been dug up.** 

Though the chauntry-house has been pulled down, the chauntry 
itself is left, and has proved a more lasting monument to its founders 
than the nightly recitation of De profundis by the six poor little 
scholars. 

Although in ^ujoamer the walk across from Aldwinkle to l^ichmarsh 
through the meadows is an easy and pleasant affair, in winter the path 
is not infrequently under water, and then the only route is round by the 
road. Even the road sometimes is only passable to vehicles. But 
this compulsory deviation from the straightest path has the advantage 
of taking the traveller through the interesting hamlet of Thorpe 
Waterville, a collection of cottages close by the Nen. Here once 
stood a castle, but it fell to ruin so long ago that hardly anything is 
known of it. The earliest possessors of the manor were the Water- 
villes, and Bridges conjectures that one Azelin de Waterville built the 
castle. However that may be, it passed from that family so long ago 
as the end of the 13th century, and out of the ruins of the castle, 
Walter de Langton *' Bishop of Coven tre," built a large mansion- 
house, parts of which still exist, though considerably modified and 
modernised. The worthy bishop in building his house procured ''for 
that purpose, without leave of the monks, and to their great detri- 
ment, a vast quantity of timber from the woods belonging to Pipwell 
Abbey." Pipwell Abbey itself is now only a name, and the mansion- 
house, wrongfully built of the monks' timber, can show more remains 
to the present day than the great home of the monks itself. Of the 
house not much remains ; there are mounds and moats about it, and 



8 



Round DrydevLS Birthplace. 



close by a large building, now used as a barn, but which, it is said, 

was origi Dally the guest -bouse of the castle. 

No doubt, had there 
existed in Dryden & time 
the same anxiety to preserve 
ancient records and to 
fathom past history that 
prevails now, a great deal of 
information might have 
been gathered from the ruins 
such as he must have seen 
them 5 but in some respects 
we, in the present day, have 
the advantage of him, since 
we can regard with all the 
interest that time lends to a 
good piece of work that 
little cottage in Thorpe, 
which was built during 
Dryden 's life, and which, 
if he noticed it at all, must 
have seemed too common- 
place to deserve mu(^ 
^.Z^v^ ^^.^Rv^j ^-— ^Hiiflie attention* 

At Thorpe we are on 

the main road leading from Thrapston to Oundle. Turning to the 

right we get to Tichmarsh, while the other way leads to the Bamwells 

and Oundle. At Tich- 
marsh there is not much of 
interest beyond the church. 
There are a few cottages 
with doors and windows of 
the universal Northamp- 
tonshire type, but the 
manor-houses, as already 
stated, have quite disap- 
peared. 

We have seen how Mrs. 
Creed adorned the church 
with epitaphs 5 but she and 
This cottage has been pulled down and rebuilt since the above was written. 





Round Dry den's Birthplace. 9 

her cousin the poet, are not the only inhabitants of Tichmarsh >*ho 
emerge from the respectable obscurity which inevitably envelops 
small villages. One Lewis dickering, a half-brother of Mrs. Creed's 
great-grandfather, lives in the pages of Thomas Fuller's Church 
History as one of the earliest who carried to James I. the news of 
Elizabeth's death. Another connection of the family, Robert Keyes, 
brother-in-law of the same great-grandfather, was implicated in the 
Gunpowder Plot 5 and eventually suffered death on that account in 
Parliament-yard at Westminster. There is hardly a village in the 
county which cannot produce some tale, apocryphal or otherwise, 
connecting it with the terrible plot. It is astonishing in how many 
places the conspirators met to concoct their nefarious schemes. 
Tichmarsh, however, has Fuller's authority for its legend, which is 
thus given in the Church History, with the marginal note — "The 
apish behaviour of Keyes " : — " Indeed, some few days before the 
fatal stroke should be given. Master Keyes, being at Titchmarsh, in 
Northamptonshire, at the house of Master Gilbert Pickering, his 
brother-in-law (but of a different religion, as a true Protestant), sud- 
denly whipped out his sword, and in merriment made many offers 
therewith at the heads, neck, and sides of many gentlemen and 
gentlewonien then in his company. This, tKen, was taken as a mere 
frolic, and for the present passed accordingly j but afterwards, when 
the treason Was discovered, such as remembered his gestures thought 
thereby he did act what he intended to do if the plot had took effect 
— hack and hew, kill and slay, all eminent persons of a different 
religion from themselves." 

"The short and simple annals " of Tichmarsh offer little else of 
interest. Indeed, nothing known in song or story occurred in this 
neighbourhood, except the tragedy of Fotheringhay. To be sure, 
could all be written that must have happened along this Nen Valley, 
it would make a stirrinig tale. For here was a chain of camps in 
Roman times, and in after centuries the castles of Thorpe and Barn- 
tvell must have been the centres of great events, but their history has 
perished as completely as the buildings themselves. To those who like 
to wander about seeking history in out-of-the-way places, rather than 
to visit scenes whose history is already made, this quiet countryside 
round I>ryden's birthplace is full of interest. We have heard about 
Thorpe and Tichmarsh, and Barnwell, with its story less castle. 
Bacntwell, however, has worthier claixus upon our attention than its 



lO 



Round Drydens Birthplace. 



ruined stronghold, for here h'ved Parson Latham who built two 
hospitals and founded ^v^ free schools in neighbouring villages, 
besides doing much other charitable work. A little further down the 
Nen is Oundle> with its great school and lofty spire, up which an 
adventurous schoolboy recently climbed by means of the crockets. 
Here lived, in one of the fairest houses in the town, John Creed, Esq., 

husband of Dryden's cousin. 
Legend says that the tim- 
ber used in his house 
came from Tresham's New 
Building at Lyveden, some 
four miles off, whence it 
was taken by one of Crom- 
well'? officers, who vainly 
endeavoured to batter the 
place down. The legend is 
probably not tnie, at least, 
so far as the battering is 
concerned. But it would 
not be wonderful if the 
" New Bield *' had excited 
the wrath of the Puritan 
soldier, for it is covered 
with symbols such as only 
a worshipper of the " Scarlet 
Woman" would have de- 
vised. Ouodle still retains 
much of its ancient air, and 



lies pleasantly sloping down to the Nen and its meadows. 

Coming back from Oundle to Aldwinkle, we pass close to Lilford 
Hall, a fine 17th century mansion, the front of which has two 
large semi-circular bay-windows running up two storeys, and crowned 
with a pierced parapet; and then, crossing the river by two hand- 
some bridges we reach Pilton again, where Dryden's parents were 
married. The rectory, which was formerly the manor-house, is a 
picturesque old building with gabled dormers rising from steep roofs 
of Colley Weston slates. Inside the house the chief feature of interest 
is the 17th century barrel-vaulted plaster ceiling of the drawing-room ; 
but there are very few memorials of the Treshams left except in the 




Round DryderCs Birthplace. 



II 



register. Leaving Pilton on our way to Wadenhoe we see across the 
river the fine spire of Achurch, where lived in the 17th century the 
fanatic Robert Brown, rector of the place, and founder of the Brownists. 
It is said that he used to say there was no church in England but bis 
and that was A-church* Bridges, in relating this, dryly observes, that 
even fanaticism strives to be witty. Puns have decidedly improved 
since those days, for surely the reverend enthusiast's struggles in this 
line were scarcely crowned with success. 

From Wadenhoe it is not far to Lowick, where is one of the most 



interesting churches in the county. 




^ '•*• Mie.Th mmldnur'41 






It abounds in stained glass 
and fine monuments, as it 
was the church of the large 
mansion of Drayton, which 
is about half-a-mile distant. 
The "White Horse" will be 
found, not only a pleasant 
country inn, but also an old 
house, with a great deal 
in it that is worth seeing. 

A pleasant walk of two 
miles or so, leads into Islip, 
with another good church ; 
and thence to Thrapston 
it is but a step. With 
Thrapston the circuit round 
Dryden's home is comple- 
ted, and a charming tract 
of country will have been 



covered. Not a country exciting violent admiration, but one full of 
repose, full of calm beauty, and full of quiet interest. 






of the Persians and the Medes. We have described the earliest 
mode of which we have any record, of fastening the sandal. 
I-.ater this was modified by the introduction of a small loop at the end 
of the sole, through which the great toe was thrust and so the foot 
"was kept in position. Some of the ancient sandals are preserved in 
the British Museum. They vary in shape and material. Those worn 
by women of the upper classes were usually pointed and turned up 
at the end like our skates j whilst others had a sharp flat point and 
-were nearly round. The Egyptians like most Eastern nations were 
divided into castes or classes, and the differences between them were 
scrupulously maintained even to the fashion of the sandals. The 
upper classes wore the inconvenient but aristocratic long -toed sandal 
which, it is believed, was forbidden to the lower classes, who wore a 
commoner, short-toed, but much more convenient sandal. The 
Assyrian sculptures at Nineveh are supposed to be as old as the 
ancient memorials of the valley of the Nile, but the sandals which 
they depict are much better in point of style and utility, as feet 
protectors, than those of Egypt. The difference observable in the 
style of sandals worn by the various classes in Egypt, does not appear 
to have obtained amongst the Assyrians, the same kind of sandal 
being apparently worn by all classes. Fig. 2 is an Assyrian sandal (tig, 2.) 
from the Ninevite sculptures in the British Museum. This in all 
probabilty was formed of a sole of wood or thick leather, to which 
a back part was attached, covering the heel and the side of the foot, 
leaving the toes and the instep exposed. Such was the kind of sandal^ 
according to Mr. Layard, worn by ancient Assyrian kings and their 
principal officers. The sculptured form of an ancient Babylonish 
king — ^probably Morodach Adan Akhi, date 1120 B.C. — is one of 
the earliest remains in which the foot is covered. According to the 
Talmudists, " there were sandals, whose sole or lower part was of 
wood, the upper of leather, and these were fastened together with 
nails. Some sandals were made of rushes, or of the bark of palm- 
trees, and they were open both ways, so that the foot might bo 
put in either before or behind. Those of a violet or purple 
colour were most valued, and worn by persons of the first quality 
and distinction." Sir Gardiner Wilkinson in his "Manners and 
Customs of the Ancient Egyptians ** says " Ladies and men of rank 
paid great attention to the beauty of their sandals; but on some 
occasions, those of the middle classes who were in the habit of wear-, 
ing them, preferred walking barefooted 5 and in religious ceremonies, 
the priests frequently took them off while performing their duties in 
the temple.*' Herodotus tells us, and this is confirmed by ancient monu- 
ments, that the Egyptian priests worshipped their deities with 
uncovered feet. Whilst the monuments of ancient Egypt indicate. 

9 



Id 

thftt Hit ^Omen clothed their feet either with sandals or a species of 
Turkish sb'pper, Plutarch asserts that the Egyptian wonien were 
accustomed to go with naked feet. The Caliph Hakken^ founder of 
the religion of the Druses, forbade the Egyptian shoemakers, under pain 
of death, to make shoes or any other similar foot-clothing for the 
women. This was doubtless intended to keep women closely within 
the precincts of their homes, and so put a limit to the propensities to 
"gadding about," and "scandalous tittle-tattle," which have been 
imgallantly — and, shall we say libellously ? — charged upon the " better 
half of the human creation. The spirit which dictated this contempt- 
uous disregard of the "rights" of Oriental women has been bequeathed 
to generation after generation of Eastern nations till to-day. Frequently 
the sandal was lined with cloth upon which was painted the figure 
of a captive, who was thus trodden underfoot by his conqueror— a 
symbol of the barbarous spirit of the time in which captives 
(Fig* 3.) became slaves and were treated with the greatest ignominy. Fig. 3 is 
taken from the sandal beneath a mummy of Harsontiotf, now 
preserved in the British Museum : the figure is that of a Jew. 
It is an illustration of the spirit which inscribed in the hieroglyphic 
legends, accompanying an ancient king's name, where his valour and 
virtues are recorded in sculptured designs — "Ye have trodden the 
impure peoples under your powerful foot." 

The straps attached to Egyptian mummies form tolerably conclusive 
evidence that the Egyptians were acquainted with the art of tanning, 
dressing, and staining leather of various colours. The Hebrews 
apparently learned the art from them, for we find in their profusion of 
offerings for the building and decoration of the tabernacle, they 
brought to Aaron "rams* skins, dyed red, and badgers* skins." 
Though of course it may be suggested that these could have been 
prepared by, and obtained from, the Egyptians, of whom the Israelites 
"borrowed" many things, en permanence. In the Scriptures the 
shoe is often spoken of in connection with the customs of the people. 
And here it must be stated that the word translated shoe, in the original 
means also sandal, and in Holy Writ it more generally denotes the 
latter than the former. The earliest Scriptural mention we have of 
the shoe is in Genesis, xiv. ch., 3 v., where Abraham having beaten 
the five kings and rescued his brother together with other captives 
and goods, is ofiered the goods by the King of Sodom. The patriarch 
rejects the proposal saying, " I will not take from a thread even to a 
shoe-latchet." Again, Moses, when he drew curiously near the 
burning bush, which he saw as he kept the sheep of his father-in-law, 
Jethro, near to Mount Horeb, heard the voice of Grod saying, " Put off 
thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy 



II 

ground.** Moses was acquainted witl> the custom of tbe Egyptian 
priesthood, and this was a call' to him to manifest at least as much 
respect to the God of Israel as Egyptian priests were wont to show 
their gods. This taking off the shoes out of respect to Deity, when 
the sacred presence was approached, was afterwards practised by the 
Hebrew priesthood, who ministered barefoot, after the hierarchy was 
established. A similar case to that of Moses is that where the angel of 
the Lord appeared to Joshua, and commanded him, " Loose thy shoe 
from off thy footj for the place whereon thou standest is holy." 
(Joshua^ V cb., i j v.) In the East it is still considered a mark of the 
highest reverence to worship bare-footed 5 and a like token of respect is 
paid to superiors. This uncovering of the foot is synonymous with 
a modern European*s uncovering of the head. Strabo says the 
Eastern custom was practised by the sacerdotal order among the 
ancient Grermans. The Egyptians scrupulously observed the custom } 
and the Mohammedans practice it whenever they enter their mosques. 
The Easterns probably borrowed the custom from the Jews. Mr, 
Wilkins in his Asiatic Researches relates that when at Patria, 
he was d^^sirous of entering into the inner Hall of the Sheiks. He 
was informed it was a place of worship open to him and to all men, but 
before en^«riug he must divest himself of his shoes. We are told 
that -at tjb.e present day when any one goes to pay his respects to the 
King of Scunatra, he first takes off his shoes and stockings, and leaves 
them at the door 5 whilst another authority says, that at the doors of 
ail Indian temple *' there are seen as many slippers and sandals as 
there are hats hanging up in our churches." 

It was a custom amongst the Jews, anciently, to ratify an agreement 
by pulling off the shoe, as witness Ruth, iv ch., 7 & 8 v. — *'Now this 
was tbe manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and con* 
ceFnii>g changing, for to confirm all things ; a man plucked off his shoe 
and gave it to his neighbour : and this was a testimony in Israel There^ 
§ope the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee ? So he drew off his 
8hoe«" The drawing off this shoe sealed an agreement whereby Ruth 
and the property of three other persons-^her father-in-law, Elimelech^ 
and hei>husband and brother-in-law, Chilion and Maldon — ^were given 
over to Boaz by the act of the next kinsman. This was in accord- 
ance with the ancient law which required that the brother or nearest 
kinsman of a woman's deceased husband should marry her if there 
were BO children. If the kinsman on whom the obligation devolved 
was not prepared to carry out the law, there was a mode of release 
from it, but one attended with some ignominy. The woman was in 
public court to take off his shoe, spit in his face (or '' spit on the 
ground before his face") saybg, ^ So abaU itbe done to that man that 



will not build up his brother's house." It is probable the circum- 
stance was entered in the genealogical registers, and this would explain 
the reproach implied in the words, "his name shall be called in 
Israel,thehouseof him that hath his shoe loosed." (Deut. 25.10.) The 
Editor of Knight's Pictorial Bible says, the transaction between Boaz 
and his kinsman is perfectly intelligible : the taking off the shoe 
denoted the relinquishment of Ruth and the property of her husband, 
her brother-in-law and father-in-law, on the part of the nearest kins- 
man, and the dissolution of the obligation devolving upon him, and 
the transference of the same to Boaz. The custom of marrying a 
brother's widow has long been discontinued amongst the Jews, but 
the ceremony of releasing the parties is still observed. Allen in his 
'' Modern Judaism" says, when the form of dissolving the mutual 
claim is to be gone through, three rabbis and two witnesses proceed to 
a place previously fixed upon. The parties wishing to be released 
come forward and declare their wish. The chief rabbi interrogates 
the man, and finding him unwilling to marry the widow, orders 
him to put on a shoe of black list, which is kept for these occasions. 
The woman then says, " My husband's brother refuseth to raise up 
his brother's name in Israel ; he will not perform the duty of my 
husband's brother." Upon this, the brother replies, " I like not to 
take her." The woman then unties the shoe, takes it off and throws 
it on the ground. This she does with her right hand, but, says old 
Purchas in his pilgrimage, " if she want a right hand, it putteth the 
rabbines out of their wits to skan, whether with her teeth, or how 
else it may be done." Having thrown down the shoe, she spits on 
the ground before him, saying, " So shall it be done unto the man that 
will not build up his brother's house, and his name shall be called in 
Israel, the house of him that hath his shoe loosed." The persons 
present then exclaim three times " His shoe is loosed." The woman 
is provided with a certificate, empowering her to marry any other, 
according to her choice. Analogous laws have prevailed amongst the 
nations of Western Asia, and the principle, it is said, is still to be 
found in the law of the Arabians, the Druses of Lebanon, and the 
Circassians. According to Lord Hales, it existed in Scotland so late 
as the eleventh century. At the present time, says Burckhardt 
(in his "Notes on the Bedouins"), the use of the shoe as a token 
of right or occupancy may be traced very extensively in the East, 
and however various or dissimilar the instances may seem at 
first view, the leading idea may still be detected in all. Thus 
among the Bedouins when a man permits his cousin to marry 
another, or when a husband divorces his runaway wife he usually says 
" She was my slipper, I have cast her off." This Eastern idea of the 
shoe .b^ing regarded as a token of possession is not altogether 



13 

unknown to ourselves, it being conveyed in the homely proverbial 
expressions to " stand in the shoes of another," " waiting for dead 
men's shoes," etc. Sir F. Henneker in his notes during a visit to 
Egypt, Nubia, etc., speaking of the difficulty of persuading the 
natives to descend into the crocodile mummy pits, in consequence of 
some men having lost their lives there, says "Our guides, as if 
preparing for certain death, took leave of their children ; the father 
took the turban from his own head, and put it upon that of his son, 
or put him in his place by giving him his shoes, — a ' dead man's shoes.' 
This was an act of transfer, the father delegating to the son the charge 
of the family which he feared he was about to leave, or from whom 
death would speedily remove him, and thus deprive them of his care 
and concern for them." The custom of tihrowing an old shoe after a 
newly married pair " for luck," not altogether fallen into desuetude, is 
supposed to be typical of a wish that the union may be crowned with 
blessings. Edward J. Wood in his ''Wedding day in all ages and coun- 
tries" suggests with a good show of reason that it was originally intended 
to be a sign of the renunciation of dominion and authority over the 
bride by her father or guardian. Another author with more ingenuity 
than probable accuracy suggests that the hurling of a shoe was first 
meant to be a sham assault on the person carrying off the woman, and 
is a relic of the old custom of opposition to the capture of a bride. 
Michelet in his " Life of Luther" says the Reformer attended the mar- 
riage of Jean Luflfte, and after supper conducted the bride to bed. He 
then told the bridegroom that he ought to be master in his own house j 
and as a symbol he took off the husband's shoe and put it at the head 
of the bed qfin quil prit ainsi la domination et gouvemement. In 
some parts of the East it was customary to carry a slipper before a 
newly-wedded pair as a token of the woman's subjection to her hus- 
band. At a Jewish wedding at Rabat the bridegroom struck the 
bride with his shoe as a token of his authority and supremacy. The 
bitter anathema implied in the words " he will die with his 
shoes on," is now rarely if ever heard. In Western Asia slippers left 
at the door of an apartment signify that the master or mistress, who- 
ever' may be therein, is engaged, and no one thinks of intruding, not 
even a husband though the apartment be his wife's. Messrs. Tyerman 
and Bennett, speaking of the termagants of Benares, say " if domestic 
or other business calls off one of the combatants before the aflair is 
settled, she coolly thrusts her shoe beneath her basket, and leaves 
both upon the spot to signify that she is not satisfied." In this way 
she indicates that she keeps possession of the ground and argument, 
during her unavoidable absence. A blow from a slipper was more 
dreaded by Mussulmen than a stroke from a poniard. The latter 
might bring deaths it is true, but the former brought dishonour, 



The itbg ef the insttlt maj bȴe been in th^ ^andab {qnpuig ^. 
oovering of the lowest part of the body, and, as being trodden under- 
foot, symbolising the sentiment of contempt. It is fabled of 
Hercules that, so great was his love for Omphale, queen of Lydia^ 
that he not Qoly became her slave, exchanging his club for a spindle^ 
but sufiered the grave iudiguity of being beaten with her slipper^ 
Mr. Morier, in his narrative of a second journey to Persia,, ipentions a 
case in which a servant was beaten with a stick on the h^k and OA 
the mouth with a shoe heel. Another case cited i&one in whjch a SbaJ?. 
of Persia examined soioe officers and finding they did. not answer hip^ 
as he deaired he exclaimed " call the Ferasbes and beat these^ rogues 
till th^ die.*' The Ferasbes came and beat them violently and wheiji 
^ey attempted to say anything in their own defence they smote th^m 
on the QKHXth with a shoe, the heel of whicb was shod, with iron. 
One writer says the sandal worn by women was aQqijsntly used in 
(kwoestic life to chastise an unruly husband. Tq i:^k)ose or remove thQ 
^fl^js was the office of the lowest menial ; and it was usual for the ser- 
vant, w^en his master walked barefooted, to follow* bearing his sandals^ 
{lea4<i!!>^ of Sir Walter Scott will remember the dry humour with 
which the veteran novelist satirized the custom of loosing or drawing 
oiF the king*s shoe which seems to have been one of the whimsical 
knight's ceremonies by which certain honours were held of the ancient 
Sci^ish monarchs. The ceremony of paying thi$ homage is ridiculed 
with the happiest e^ct in one of the most amusing chapters of 
Waveitley, where the honest but pedantic B^ron of Bradwardine, in 
whom the privilege is vested by inheritance, performs it with much 
^lemnity for the Chevalier, Prince Edward. The novelist with rare 
J^Ufnour afterwards quotes what purports tp be an extract from the 
official gazette, i-ecording the particulars of the ceremony, as performed 
by the said ''Cosmo Comyne Bradwardjine, of that Ilk, 'V at Pinkie 
liouse. " His Royal Highness having placed his foot upon a cushion, 
the 9aron of Bradwardine kneeling upon his right knee, proceeded to 
undo the latchet of the brogue, or low-heeled Highland shoe, which 
pur gallant young hero wears in compliment to his brave followers. 
When this was performed. His Royal Highness declared the ceremony 
completed) and embracing the gallant veteran, protested that nothing 
but a compliance with an ordinance of Robert Bruce, could have 
induced him to reqeive even the symbolical perfprnaance of a menial 
office from hands which had fought so bravely to pu,t the crowp upon 
the bead of his fether. * * * ^His Royal Highness, 

in his father*s name and authority, has been pleased to grant him an 
honourable augmentation to his paternal coat of arms, being a budget 
op boot-jack, disposed salter-wise,. with a. naked broad sword, to be 
borne^ in. the 4ext^ cantel of the shield -, and as an additional motig 
OR a scroll beneath, th^ words • Draw and draw off/ " 



At a very ^rly date the art of decorating the covering for the feet 
began to developer and the pretty feet of the fair seem to have bebayed 
the earliest susceptibility to pedal adornments, although the use of these 
embellishnaents was by no means confined to them, as '^"e shall 
presently see. Some of the earliest and most distinctive examples 
we find in Jewish records. Thus, in Solomon's Song (vii ch., i v.), 
the bride is thus addressed : — " How beautiful are thy feet with shoes 
(sandals), O prince's daughter ! " In the case of JuditJi of the 
Apocr}'pha, although her personal attractions, the splendour of her 
attire, and other ornaments, may have attracted the attention of the 
fierce Holofemes, the Assyrian general, it was her sandalis that 
" ravished his eyes." (Judith, xvi ch., 9 v.) A passage in Isaiah 
gives us an idea of the character of some of -the ornaments employed. 
" Haughty daughters of Zion walking and mincing as they go, and 
making a tinkling with their feet. The Lord will take away the 
bravery of their tinkling ornaments about t^aeir feet." (Isaiah, iii ch., 
16, 18 V.) 

The first approach to a boot — and ther.e was probably nothing of 
the kind existing prior to 500 B.C. — -^vvas in the shape of a high 
stocking or greave, a piece of leather affi xed to the front of the shins 
as a protection from injury in war, by means of leathern thongs or 
interlaced bands of leather. This protection doubtless eventuated in 
the elaborate metal greaves which fon ned an important part of tibe 
armour of a later period. The transit! on of the sandal to the shoe is 
perhaps more evident in the sculptured remains of Persia than in asy 
other of the dumb yet eloquent wi tnesses of antiquity. The bas- 
reliefs of Persepolis give many illustr ations of the style of boots and 
shoes worn by the Persians in th e time of Darius and Xerxes— 
between 521 B.C. and 472 B.C. i Jne of these is a sort of ankle- 
boot, half-shoe, half-sandal; for wha .t is termed the ''upper leather" is 
little more than the straps of the sa ndals left much broader than usual, 
and fastened by buttons along the top of the foot, (see fig. 4.) This (Rg> 4 
kind of shoe is represented as hav* mg been worn by soldiers, the upper 
classes, and attendants around the throne of the King. Other 
specimens are more completely f ind unequivocally shoes, the charac- 
teristics of the sandal being ap parently entirely absent. There are 
also among these sculptures seve ;ral kinds of boots, one of them being 
similar to the three-quarter W ellington of the present time. The 
highly ornamental dress-boot f riven in fig. 5, adorned the legs of a {Fig. j 
gaily-dressed youth depicted or i a Theban painting, and supposed to 
have belonged to a country]^ ac? ijacent to Egypt. It is similar in form 
to the dress Wellington of th e present century, and is a sample of the 
boot decoration then prevaJ ling. Inghirami,' in his ^' Mouumenti 



Etnischt*' giv^ an engraviag of a heathen priest^ taken from an 
ancient Etruscan sculpture, the figure wearing a pair of top-boots 
exceedingly like those worn by the ditchers and fishermen of to-day. 
The Etruscans were antecedent to the Greeks and Romans in civili- 
zation, so that this must be very old, although not so ancient as the 
Theban painting just noticed. It is tolerably clear that the shoe 
developed into the boot^ and that Orator Henley's celebrated method 
of making shoes had not been thought of at this early stage of the world*s 
history. Many of our readers will recollect the anecdote of the great 
mob orator, who once> by a clever strategy, is said to have attracted 
''the greatest multitude of shoemakers ever known to have been 
assembled on one occasion" at his oratory near Lincoln's Inn Fields. 
He had announced a special discourse to shoemakers, and in order to 
'' draw" an audience, with the true genius of sensationalism, he 
declared that he could teach them a most expeditious way of making 
shoes. Hi$ method was simple but efiectual, viz., to cut off the 
tops of their boots. The tickets of admission on that occasion bore 
the appropriate but mocking motto — Omne mctjus continet in se 
minus (the greater contains the less). It is also sufficiently clear that 
in a very great degree modem fashion is but an imitation — a more or 
less refined one it may be — of the other forms and fashions whose 
records are to be found on these ancient monuments. ''History 
repeats itself" in the way of boots and shoes as with everything else, 
and the boots of modern days ind their earliest exemplars on these 
striking sculptured memorials of, nations whose sun of prosperity has 
gone down for ever, but who once occupied the proud place in the 
world of "first in arts as in ardds." Thus we can, with much of 
truth, exclaim :— 

" Fashions that tUQXkow called new 
Hare been worn hV more than joa ; 
Elder times have it^ed the same. 
Though these new ^nes get the name." 

The great Persian monarch, C)tus, l»ras not only a warlike soldier, but 
a connoisseur in the art of dress. H^ was accustomed to wear purple 
and white robes, and to encase his fopt and legs in yellow buskins. 
If a man were unfortunate enough ndt to possess the dignity of high 
stature, he recommended that he shpuld wear a sort of buskin or 
stocking, between the sole of which alfd the bottom of the foot some 
substance might be inserted to give an^ncreased height to the wearer. 
A similar method of increasing their height appears to have obtained 
amongst women also, for Xenophon, in^iis CEconomics, mentions the 
wife of Ischomachus as wearing high stipes for that purpose. In the 
tombs of ancient Egypt, women's shoeb have been discovered that 
have this object distinctly in view, for thel are formed of a stout sole 



of wood, to which is affixed four round props — really a sort of foot- 
stool, only fixed to the feet — raising the wearer a foot in height. 
The Phrygian bonnet, which the goddess Minerva is sometimes 
represented as wearing is a characteristic head-dress which finds a fitting 
counterpart in the Phrygian boot. This article was worn very 
high, had four long flaps or streamers at the top (consisting of the 
leg -skins of animals whose skins had been used for body clothing) 
and were laced up in front. 

We now approach one of the most remarkable periods in the 
history of the chaussure or foot-gear — a period including the costume 
of the Greeks and Romans, but in an especial degree that of 'the 
latter. The ancient Greeks were evidently averse to encumbering their 
feet with either sandals or shoes. Though according to Homer — if 
we are to attach any historical value to the great epics which bear his 
name — the Greeks used boots even in the time of Agamemnon j and 
he terms them " brazen booted." If such were the case it was 
probably they were only used during war, for monuments of a date 
subsequent to the siege of Troy, represent the Greeks as wearing 
only a simple sandal, which was fastened to the foot by means of 
bands of leather or other material, crossed several times over the 
instep and reaching as far as the middle of the leg. That was the 
ordinary cothurnus of travellers. The " divine" Plato desired that the 
people should go with naked feet, but his wish was futile. Phocion, 
the celebrated Athenian general, (4th. century B.C.) who was a 
disciple of Plato ; and the austere Roman, Cato of Utica, who died 
about fifty years B.C., — both men of incorruptible integrity — with 
others, used sometimes to go without shoes, as a protest against the 
usage which compelled their wear. At Athens many of the people 
would be found walking with their feet free from all covering. The 
early Christians, the men especially, except in war, walked without 
shoes : the women carried their shoes for the sake of propriety. The 
magicians and sorceresses when they performed the occult ceremonies 
connected with their mysteries had, curiously enough, one foot clothed 
and the other naked. As the Greeks and Romans progressed in 
empire, riches and luxury, the covering of the feet gradually advanced 
from the ruder and simpler fashions of their national youth, to a 
perfection of style and an elaborateness of decoration which made the 
craft of the shoemaker quite an art. The Romans, who were so 
largely indebted to the Greeks both for their literature and art, borrowed 
the fashions of their boots and shoes, but "improved" upon them; 
and at the same time utilized the various kinds of foot-gear, sandals and 
the like, in use amongst other nations. In their own apartments the 
Romans ordinarily went about with naked feet, but for out-door wear 



i8 

the variety of boots and shoes was legion. Vegetable sandals called 
baxa or baxea were worn by the lower classes ; and as a symbol of 
huoaility by the philosophers and priests. Another class of foot-gear 
very largely patronised by the poor was the solea. Those worn 
by the poor were of a clumsy description. A lighter kind of the same 
class of shoe was worn by the rich. As the name imports, it was 
properly speaking a species of sandal, a sole, cut to the pattern of the 
tread of the foot, with a simple fastening across the iustep. The 
higher classes wore one kind of solea in the house on account of its 
lightness 5 wearing out-of-doors the calceus. Other kinds, however, 
were adopted by the lower classes, labourers, and rustics. La Crepida, 
so called on account of the noise (crepitus) it made in walking, was 
a variety of the solea. It left the foot uncovered, was attached to it by 
means of straps, but it had a much thicker sole and was only a 
common sandal, worn by common people, and was to be obtained at 
a low price. La Crepidula, as the name implies, was a diminutive, 
and was like the former but had a thinner sole. La Gallica, an 
imitation of a shoe used by the Gauls in the rainy season, belonged to 
the same family. It had a wooden sole, was only known towards the 
time of Cicero, and its use was confined to the country j and doubtless 
was mainly worn by the common people. The makers of the baxea and 
of the solea, designated respectively baxearii and solearii, constituted a 
(Fig. 6.) corporation or college at Rome ; the forerunners of future trades 
guilds, or companies. We give ( fig. 6) one of the specimens of foot- 
gear largely in use amongst the rustics of Rome. The inner part or 
sock was turned over the foot, the straps to the sandal being then 
fastened over the foot. Similar articles we are told are to be seen at 
the present day on the feet of the Roman peasantry of the Pontine 
marshes. The calceus was a species of high shoe or low boot, and in 
some respects corresponded to the modern Blucher. It was of various 
colours, generally black, sometimes red, or of a bright scarlet -, and it 
entirely covered the foot, rising about three inches above the ancle, 
and being fastened at the top by a strap, a lace, or a cord. One 
variety, the calcei incinati, ascended to the middle of the leg. The 
ordinary calceus varied in colour according to the dignity or office of 
the wearer. None but an iEdile, a kind of Roman magistrate, was 
allowed to wear those that had been dressed with alum, and that were 
of a red colour. Red seems to have been a favourite colour with the 
Romans, as it was with the Hebrews and Lacedaemonians, and as it is 
still in Western Asia. The Ocrea, a boot or gaiter which sometimes 
rose as. far as the middle of the leg, was an article of apparel elegantly 
fashioned and very susceptible of adornment. The Phoecasium, a 
Greek shoe, made of white and light leather for delicate feet, was one 
of the choicest examples, and was used by the priests and $acrificer5 



19 

of Athens and Alexandria in their idolatrous ceremonies. There is 
some difference of opinion as to the class of chaussure, which went by 
the name of the socais, Lacroix says it was applied to a species of 
shoe or sandal worn only by women and effeminate men, and 
ultimately to the socks worn by comedians. In reply to those 
archaeologists who argue that the socci were only used by comedians, he 
quotes from Propertius — "Cui scepe immundo sacra conteriturviasocco.** 
Translating this, " souvent la vote sacree est foulee par un soque 
immonde*' (the sacred way is trodden oft by unclean socks) he 
argues that it must have been an article commonly worn by a certain 
class of the general public as well as by comedians in their 
performances. The soccus was a kind of shoe or slipper, and is 
really the prototype of some of our dressing room slippers. It was 
made of common leather dyed yellow, and made to fit both feet 
indifferently, as well as loosely, so as to be cast off at pleasure. 
Sometimes, however, the socci were nicely finished, and were made to 
fit well, due regard being had to rights and lefts. The actors of tragedy 
wore the cothurnus or buskin. (See fig 7.) This had more richness and /w ^ \ 
elegance about it, was higher at the heel, and altogether fitted to play o* ' * 
an important part in the imposing attire essential to ancient tragedy. 
It gave to the actor a grander presence 5 and if he lacked height it 
was usual to increase the thickness of the sole by additional layers of 
cork. By means of such an artifice, the ancient tragedians could 
represent with greater dignity, and with more fidelity the heroes and 
gods of their dramatis personce. The fact that these distinct varieties 
of foot gear were worn by the two classes of actors, gave rise to the 
Thespian designation "brethren of the sock and buskin." The 
cothurnus was a boot reaching above the calf and sometimes as far as 
the knee. It was laced down the front so that it should fit as tightly 
as possible. It was generally stained purple, (a most costly dye) 
or some other gay colour. Sometimes the skin of the head and paws 
of a wild animal were affixed to the upper part and formed a not 
altogether ungraceful addition. Ordinarily the Roman cothurni 
went indifferently on bgth feet: hence the proverb '' cothurno 
versatilior' (more changeable than a cothurnus) as expressing 
inconstancy and unreliability. The cothurnus was not only worn by 
tragedians, but by hunters, horsemen, and also by the nobles. The 
goddess Diana the great huntress, is consequently represented 
wearing this type of boot. It was also worn by the later Roman 
Emperors, but was then elaborately decorated. Whatever difference 
of opinion may exist as to the precise characters of other varieties 
of the Roman chaussure, no doubt exists that the caliga was the 
especial foot gear of the soldier. It derived its name from the 
number of its straps — ligulce-^^which were twisted round the leg. 

D 2 



ao 

The thongs with their points of intersection where they crossed one 
another^ formed a sort of network, sometimes reaching as far as the 
knee. The sole of the caliga was studded with large clumsy nails or 
short spikes, to enable the soldiers to secure a firm foot-hold when en- 
gaged in battle, or when marching over uneven or slippery ground — 

(Rs, g \ fig. 8. This boot gave its name to Caligula one of the Roman Emperors. 
His true name was Caius, but in his youth, when with the army of 
his father Germanicus, he only shod himself with the light caligce. 
The soldiers who remarked this, gave to him on that account the 
name of Caligula, which never, left him. He was henceforth 
*^ Ccesar cognomen caiigce cut castra dederunt'* (That Caesar to 
whom an armed camp gave the name of a shoe). The name 
caligali was often given to the Roman soldiers on account of their 
shoes ; and for the same reason the word caliga, by metonomy, was 
sometimes applied to the profession of arms. Seneca has also used 
it in the phrase, *'j4 caliga ad consulatum perdtictus,'* (from a simple 
soldier has become a consul). The campagus, a sort of half-boot, 
differing a little from the caliga, was the most ordinary foot-gear of 
the Emperors, being sometimes embroidered with the figure of au 
eagle and enriched with precious pearls and diamonds. The boots 
worn by the Roman Emperors were most elaborately decorated, and 

(Vi r\\ ^^^ without taste and skill, as may be seen by fig. 9, which is an 
6' yv illustration of the boot of Hadrian whose noble statue adorns the 
British Museum. The boots of these potentates were also adorued 
and sometimes elaborately with gold and costly gems. Similar 
elaborate and costly decoration was also adopted by the higher and 
wealthier classes. The Emperor Heliogabalus is said to have worn 
exquisite cameos on his boots and shoes. Towards the close of the 
Roman Republic the women wore a sandal or shoe ordinarily white, 
but it lost little by little its original simplicity, and the material was 
at length dyed in various colours. Emulating the example of Cyrus, 
and in harmony with his advice to men, they endeavoured to make 
themselves taller by using very thick cork soles to their sandals. 1'he 
decorations of foot-gear were carried to an almost incredible extent. 
The Romans invented for the clothing of the foot unheard-of re- 
finements and foolish coquetteries. They ornamented their shoes 
especially those of the women, with pearls and embroideries. According 
to Virgil, they made a kind of light boot which was adorned with 
gold and amber. The leather of which the boots and shoes were 
made was stained with dyes which cost fabulous prices. Some shoes 
were brilliant with ornaments of chased silvery others, again, 
sparkled with precious stones. They were not content with having 
their shoes loaded with leaves and sheets of gold. They wished also 
that the soles should be of massive gold. That profusion says 



21 

Lacroix, which would pass amougst us for inordinateness and senseless 
extravagance, at Rome astonished no one, dazzled no one. The 
immense fortune in which some patricians rejoiced, made that 
display only in harmony with their other expenses. It seemed 
impossible to find* limits for this inordinate luxuriousness. At one 
period Aurelien forbade men to wear red, yellow, white or green shoes, 
permitting them to be worn by women only 5 and Heliogabalus — 
of whom, it is said, by the bye, that he never wore a pair of boots 
twice — forbade women to wear gold or precious stones in their shoes. 
At length the artistic capabilities of the ** gentle craft '* constructed 
balf-boots of purple-stained leather, the form of which was so ex- 
quisitely elegant, and the embroidered decoration of which was so 
perfect that the beau monde of Roman society preferred them to those 
that were enriched with gold or diamonds. The ambition of excess 
had " o'erleaped itself.*' I'he excesses of prodigality were not merely 
exceptional, but general amongst the wealthy, and formed a fruitful 
source of mirth to the satirists of the period. In Plautus* comedy 
of the Bacchides, a master asks his valet if a certain person named 
Theotime is rich. ** You ask me if a man is rich" replied the valet 
•* when he uses soles of gold to his shoes.*' Pliny speaking of his 
own time says, " Our ladies are not content to adorn their walking 
shoes alone with precious stones and jewels, but even the slippers 
w^hich they wear in their private apartments are decorated ; precious 
stones do not suffice, they must, to be in the fashion, tread on pearls, 
and crowd their feet with omaiuents like kings.** Curtius describes 
the clothing of a high priest thus, ** His dress is adorned with gold 
and purple falling to his knees. His sandals of gold are enriched with 
precious stones." Seneca tells us that when Caesar adopted this 
elaborately ornamented foot-gear, those who pretended to excuse him 
said " Caesar was not affected by vanity, but that it was by the wish of 
the people that he presented himself in public in a high boot, gilded, 
worked in gold and ornamented with pearls.'* From a position 
of insignificance the shoe was raised almost to the rauk of a jewel 5 
and the goldsmith and jeweller threatened to usurp the place of "the 
gentle craft,** but that the experience of men taught them "there's 
nothing like leather,*' — at least for shoes. The height of Roman 
civilization thus saw the manufacture of foot-gear almost elevated 
to an art. The embellishments of the shoe made it an ornament 
instead of an uncomely necessity j and lovers preserved the shoes 
of a mistress with as much care and devotion as the slain of Cupid 
in these days preserve ribbons and locks of hair. The straps of a 
sandal figured amougst the most precious relics. Suetonius tells us 
that Lucius, in order to gain the goodwill of the Emperor Claudius, 
asked his wife Messalina, as a particular favour to allow him to pull 



2% 

her sandals off* Having pulled off the sandal of the right foot, he 
retained possession of it, carried it contioually between bis robe and 
tunic and often kissed it. Many eminent men of this period thought 
it no derogation to their dignity to exercise their inventive powers 
in the construction of new styles of boots and shoes. Greece 
furnishes a remarkable example — that of Alcibiades, the celebrated 
Athenian. He invented a stylish boot which received his own 
name and appears to have become a great favourite. It was 
generally adopted by the Sybarites of Athens. The Romans were 
no doubt first infected with the foppery of foot-gear by the example of 
the Greeks. The spirit of foppery, in this particular, prevailed among 
the Grecian soldiers about 200 b.c. for it is recorded that Philopoemen, 
the celebrated general of the Achaeans, found it necessary to rebuke 
his soldiers for their extreme nicety about their sandals and shoes, and 
to recommend them to pay more tittention to their warlike accoutre- 
ments, and see that their greaves were kept bright and fitted well. 
We have hinted that amongst the Romans, the foot-gear was indicative 
of class distinction. It has been aptly said that the rank and fortune 
of persons could be recognised by an inspection of their feet only, 
and the stranger who passed through the streets of Rome had only to 
lower his eyes in order to learn the quality of the people who brushed 
up against him. This distinction was kept up by legal enactment. 
The Roman Senators, for instance, wore shoes or buskins of a black 
colour, with a crescent of gold, silver, or other ornamentation on the 
(H^. 9.) top of the boot. Fig. 9 is an illustration of one of tliese. Thus 
calceos mutare (to change shoes) became a proverbial expression to 
denote a change of condition ; and Cicero so applies it to Asinius on 
his becoming a Senator — mutavi calceos (he has changed his shoes). 
It arose from the fact that the chaussures of two classes of society 
being perfectly distinct, it being necessary in rising from one to the 
other to use another sort of shoe. This custom did not escape the 
keen appreciation of the satirist, for it used to be a joke in Rome 
against those persons who owed the respect they received to the 
accidents of birth or fortune, that "their nobility was in their heels,'* 
in allusion to the distinctive boots they were allowed by their position 
to wear. The shoes of the Patricians were higher than those of the 
common people. They came up as far as the middle of the leg, 
and were fastened by four tags or knots, whereas the Plebeians had 
only a right to one strap. The poor people had great difficulty in 
moving about with their wooden shoes, which were almost identical 
with the heavy shoes with which criminals were shod in order to 
prevent tlieir escape. The French sabot and the Lancashire clog 
belong to the same class of boot. At Athens, women of high rank 
had the privilege of wearing a particular kind of shoe. A noble 



^3 

Roman lady converted to Christianity, could renounce without a pang 
perhaps, her silken robes, her golden ornaments and precious stones, 
but it was exceedingly difficult for her to give up the costly foot-gear 
which indicated her position. Thus St. Jerome, in one of his epistles 
to Marcellus, instances as a most meritorius act, the sacrifice of a 
young and beautiful noble dame who had given up this class dis- 
tinction and adopted the foot-covering of the plehs. One species of 
shoe, light and delicately worked, had been imported from Greece 
into Rome. It was only young idlers, known by their effeminacy and 
voluptuousness, who wore them publicly. It was called the sicyonia. 
"If you were to give me," says Cicero, in the first book of the 
Oration, " some sicyonian shoes, I would certainly not wear them ^ 
they are too effeminate 3 I should perhaps like the convenience of 
them, but on account of their indecency I would never permit myself 
to wear them." It is difficult to understand what ground Cicero 
had for making such a charge against this shoe when we remember 
that the straps of the ordinary Roman sandal hid very imperfectly 
the nudity of the feet, and that such a man as Cato often walked 

barefooted. 

• 

Before leaving this part of our subject we may note the circum- 
stance that the slaves at Rome walked with naked feet, which was 
one of the signs of their degradation. They were called cretati, 
because it was customary to mark them on the feet with chalk when 
they were for sale, or yet again gypsali because they had, what was 
inevitable, dusty feet. Tibullus recalls that particular in one of his 
elegies when he says, "He rules, he who was so low-born as 
frequently to have dusty feet." Freemen would be careful not to 
go out with naked feet lest they should be taken for slaves 5 hence 
the moral courage of those who, nevertheless, like Phocion and Cato 
of Utica, in making their protest against foot-gear, braved public 
opinion. Pythagoras is said to have forbidden his disciples to wear 
shoes of any other material than that of the bark of trees. He was 
a believer in transmigration and therefore doubtless had a reverence 
for even the skins of animals, thinking that they might have enclosed 
the migratory spirit of his ancestors. The origin of the well-known 
proverb Ne sutor ultra crepidam (the shoemaker should stick to his 
last) belongs to this period. It is said that Apelles the most celebrated 
painter of antiquity, having placed a picture before his door concealed 
himself with a view of hearing the rough and ready criticisms of the 
passers-by, and of profiting by them if possible. Amongst the casual 
critics was a shoemaker who found fault with the boots of one of 
the characters represented, pointing out judiciously where the fault 
lay that rendered them imperfect. Apelles^ perceiving that the 



H 

criticism was just, made the correction counselled. The Shoemaker^ 
emboldened by the prompt thanks of the artist, advised him, with 
the air of a connoisseur, to re-touch at the same time a leg the pro- 
portions of which seemed to him not quite natural. But this time 
Apelles had less respect for his opinion, and laughing at the 
presumptuous giver of advice, made him the response, which has since 
become proverbial : " Cobbler stick to your trade, and above all 
guard yourself against offering your criticism beyond the shoes.'* The 
craft had evidently taken root as a distinct class of handi-craftsmen, 
for Fosbrooke tells us in his " Dictionary of Antiquities " that ''the 
streets of Rome in the Reign of Domitian were at one time so filled 
with cobblers' stalls that the Emperor had to issue an order to clear 
them away, probably to some bye-way of the city.*' So that 
Shakespeare's Roman cobler, who figures in the first scene of Julius 
Caesar, is more than possible. The scene is a street in Rome, and the 
indications are those of Caesar's coming triumph. Enter Flavins, 
Murellus, and certain commoners, amongst whom is a cobler (a 
name not then of derision, but one of the ordinary appellations by 
which the craft was known in early times) : — 

ifiir.. Too, sir ; what Trade are you f 

Cob. TmeLy Sir, in respect of a fine Workman, I am but as you would say, 

a Cobler. 
Mur, But what Trade art thou T Answer me directly. 
Cob, A Trade Sir, that I hope I may yse, with a safe Conscience, which is 

indeed Sir, a Mender of bad soules. 
Fla. What Trade thou knaue ? Thou naughty knaue, what Trade f 
Cob, Nay I beseech you Sir, be not out with me : yet if you be out Sir, 

I can mend you. 
Mur. What mean st thou by that ? Mend mee, thou sawcy Fellow ? 
Cob, Why, sir, Cobble you. 
Fla. Thou art a Cobler, art thou ? 
Cob, Truly sir, all that I Hue by, is with the Aule : I meddle with no 

Tradesmans matters, nor womens matters, but withal I am indeed Sir, 

a Surgeon to old shooes: when they are in great danger, I recouer 

them. As proper men as euer trod vpon Neats Leather, haue gone vpon 

my handy-worke. 
Fla, But wherefore art not in thy Shop to day ? Why do*st thou leade 

these men about the streets ? 
Cch, Truly sir, to weare out their shooes, to get myselfe into more worke. 

But indeede sir, we make Holyday, to see Ctuar, and to reioyce in his 

Triumph. 

Never had the "gentle craft " been so influential in the annals of 
costume as at this period; which was also remarkable in that it 
includes in its history the Christian life of an Alexandrian shoemaker 
and saint, and the noble lives and martyrdom of 88. Crispin and 
Crispianus. Our sketch would be incomplete without some brief 



^5 

record of their lives. St. Anianus was a shoemaker of Alexandria, 
who it was said was converted by St. Mark. The Christian evangelist, 
says the legend, was entering the city of Alexandria to preach the 
religion of Christ, when the thong or latchet of his sandal broke. He 
proceeded to the shop of Anianus to get the damage repaired. 
Anianus, in doing the work, pierced his hand with his awl, and, 
with a cry of pain, made some such exclamation as *' O, good God ! " 
The saint promptly took occasion to speak to him of that God whose 
name he had unconsciously invoked, and in order to add force to his 
teaching, addressed an earnest prayer to heaven on the shoemaker's 
behalf. He then applied some mud to the wound, which was at once 
miraculously healed. Anianus needed nothing more to convert him. 
He invited St. Mark into his house, made him and those accompanying 
him sit down at his table, and lent a ready hear to the teaching of the 
messenger of God. Shortly afterwards he was baptized, he and all 
his house. His progress in Christian knowledge and virtue was so 
rapid, his fervour so touching, and his capacity so marvellous, that 
St. Mark had no hesitation in appointing him Bishop of Alexandria 
during his absence. After the death of the Evangelist, Anianus 
governed the church for nineteen years, and died November 26th, 
in the year 86 a.d. The Roman Martyrology, however, fixed his 
commemoration on the 2jth April. Eusebius says he was a man 
well beloved of God and admirable in all things. The Shoemaker- 
Bishop is in some countries regarded as the patron saint of the 
shoemakers, though the patronage of St. Crispin is more generally 
recognized. A certain halo of glory crowns the heads of St. Crispin 
and his brother St. Crispianus. They lived two hundred years later 
than Anianus, in stormier times, when the fierce spirit of persecution 
to which they fell victims raged violently ; St. Anianus, it would 
seem, ran his course upon earth with comparative smoothness, and 
died a natural death. Although some attempt has been made to 
prove that the tomb of the two martyr-brothers is in England^ 
there can be no doubt that the glories of their life and death were 
confined entirely to France. They were born at Rome, and were of 
noble birth — probably of royal blood. In the reign of Diocletian — 
who signalised his assumption of power (284 a.d.) by so sanguinary 
a persecution of Christians that his reign is known as " the era of 
martyrs " — some fervent Christians belonging to the best families of 
Rome, proceeded to Gaul to propagate the truths of the Christian 
religion, and amongst them were the two brethren. They settled 
down at Soissons, a city about seventy miles north of Paris, and 
situated on the left bank of the River Aisne, in a beautiful and 
fertile valley. The people refused them hospitality on the ground 
of their Christianity, and from fear of the cruel persecutions then 



26 

r^ing. The brethren thea determiaed to engage, iti some useful 
occupatioD, aud chose that of a shoemaker. So kindly did they take 
to ^he craft, and so ardently did they strive for excellence in it, that, 
as has been alliterative ly expressed, les deux artisajis dev'mrent 
meme deiu artistes. They became the best workmen in the city, 
. but they worked not for proht, and took delight in making shoes for 
the poor. . Taking advantage of every opportunity to teach the 
peQple> they won their confidence and love, and the poor would 
visit th&aXj not so much because they stood in need of their work, 
as because they wished to hear the Divine Word. Many were 
thus led to abandon the worship of idols and were filled with a 
desire to love and honour the hving God. These circumstances 
came to the knowledge of Maximinus, whom Diocletian had 
associated with him in the government of the enipire. He sent 
against the brothers Rictus Varus, "the minister of his cruelties,** 
who governed Belgic Gaul under the title of consul, and with the grade 
of Prefect of the Pretorium. Varus found thein at Soissons making 
shoes for the poor. Lacroix, quoting proba;bly from a writer who 
lived at the close of the VIII. ceatury — to whopa we are chiefly 
indebted for a full record of the lives of these rnartyrs, with the 
supernatural incidents which are said ,tp have accompanied their 
death — gives the circumstances of the seizure^ trial, and death of the 
brothers. Varus asked them what God they worshipped. They 
told hioa they adored tlie one true Gpd, and that they looked with 
contempt on Jupiter, Apollo, and Mercury* Varus then took them 
inchaius.to Maximiaus, who ordered that they should be charged 
before him with being violators of the Imperial, edicts. "Tell me" 
said be to the two shoemakers " what i§ your religion and what your 
origin." They replied, "Connected with families known and re- 
spected at Rome, we came amongst the (Jauls for the love of Christ, 
^vbp is, with his Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, Creator of 
all things. Eternal. Him we serve with faith and earnest devotion, 
and we desire, so long as our. bodies are animated with life, to coa- 
tinaejn our wprship and obedience to Him." Enraged at these words 
Maxipiinus exclaimed, "/By the virtue of the gods ! if you do not 
objure th^t folly, you shall perish in the most terrible torments, 
SQ that you may serve as examples to others. If, on the contrary, 
you are ready to sacrifice to the gods, I will load you with benefits 
aad honours." The holy , martyrs answered, "Thou caiist not 
frighten- us by thy meaaces for to us. death is a blessing. Keep for 
thyself the riches and distinctions thou dost proraeise usj we have 
already, aforetime disdaiped them for the cause of Christ, and we 
ar^.happjf. io. disdain :tl>em. again... As for tjiyself, if tl^U jdidst but 
know^and love Christ, thou would'st disdain not only riches, and even 



^7 

empire, but all the vain pomps of idolatry ; and thou would'st receive 
f?-6m His love life etenlal. But if, on the contrary, thou still re- 
mainest attached to idolatrous vanity, thou wilt be cast into belli 
with all the demons whose images thou dost honour." Maximinus 
responded : " Let it suffice you that you have so far corrupted rhtfny 
of my subjects by your misdeeds and your wicked arts! ** " Misguided 
man!'* replied the martyrs, ''thou disregardest the good God who 
has elevated thee to empire in spite of thine u n worthiness ; had 
it not been for that, thou would'st not have had the power to 
hinder the extension of his imperishable kingdom upon earth." Then, 
inflamed with fury, for bad men hate to hear the truth, Maximinud 
handed them over to Rictus Varus, a man of blood and vengeance, 
accustomed to support unpityingly the passions of his master, and 
enjoined him to torture them severely, and then put them to the 
most atrocious death. The willing instrument of the Emperor's 
cruelty obeyed his instructions only too faithfully, for, according to 
the story, they were tortured with unrelenting severity. But in the 
midst of the most horrible tortures the martyrs rejoiced, suffered 
patiently, and prayed to God. It is said that Varus, mad with anger, 
ordered that millstones should be fastened to their necks, and that 
they should then be cast into the Aisne, so that there they might 
find their death ^a^w quits y pussent trouver la mortj. But, joyous 
and radiant, these confessors of the faith, protected by the Divine 
power, were neither submerged by the waters nor bruised by the 
mill-stones, nor paralysed by the rigorous cold j but gained the 
opposite shore of the river without sustaining the least harm. On 
seeing this miracle. Varus could no longer contain himself, and had 
them plunged in molten lead, but they again escaped unhurt. 
Wliiist they prayed a drop of the boiling lead flew up and struck 
Varus in the eyes, causing him great pain and blinding him. Still 
more infuriated, instead of asking for relief for his body and soul, he 
ordered that pitch, fat, and oil should be mixed together and melted, 
and that the martyrs should be plunged into that vile boiling 
concoction. This order was quickly executed. But the martyrs, 
animated with celestial hope, cried, " Lord thou canst deliver us 
from the tortures of that impious man ! " An angel appeared, who 
drew them from the cauldron unharmed. Seeing that all these 
tortures were useless. Varus in fury precipitated himself into the 
seething cauldron, and so departed this life (et sortit ainsi de la viej 
Thereupon these holy martyrs piously } 'rayed that the Lord would 
call them to Himself; and that same night it was revealed to them 
that they were about to receive the reward of their sufferings and 
their martyrdom'. Maximinus, hearing of the fate which had befallen 
bi^ tool, ordered that the shoemaker martyrs should be beheaded j 



28 

and that sentence was carried into execution. The year of their 
martyrdom was 287 or 288 a.d. But the wondrous influence 
exerted by the sanctity of the brothers was to find still further 
manifestation. According to the veracious narrative which we have 
quoted^ the two bodies were abandoned to the voracity of dogs and 
birds of prey, but, guarded by Christ, they were preserved intact. 
A pious old man named Roger, and his wife Pavia, to whom God 
miraculously furnished all that was necessary for the removal and 
laying out of the corpses, gave them harbourage under their modest 
roof. Subsequently the Christian clergy and people determined to 
remove the bodies, and having prepared a place worthy of the 
martyrs, they transferred them thither by river with great dignity and 
rejoicing. The moment the boat which carried the remains of the 
saints renched the shore, a child, blind, deaf, dumb, and lame touched 
the lid of the coliin, and was at once healed ot all his infirmities. 
The bodies were de[K)sited in two tombs, which eventually became 
the site of a Christian church, where many miracles were wrought. 
About the year 649, Anserik, the Bishop of Soissons, had their 
remains removed to the basilica of St. Crispin the Great ; thence 
they were transferred to Mons in Hainault, there to be sheltered 
from the ravages of the Normans, to be returned to their former 
asylum when the danger was past. A religious house was built on 
the supposed site of the martyrs' prison, and this was dedicated to 
St. Crispin. The establishment of the monastery was confirmed by 
Pope Innocent II. in 1142. Many of the learned dispute the 
existence of Homer, the reputed author of the two great Greek 
epics, the Iliad and Odyssey, some of them asserting that the word 
is derived from homereo, a collector, and that the alleged name of the 
poet is really but the title for a collection of the noblest fragments 
of ancient Greek poesy. Similarly the very existence of St. Crispin 
has been doubted. A French critic contends that St. Crepin (the 
French name for the saint) is but an abstract personification of 
shoemakers in general. It was customary, he says, to assign 
positions to saints according to their names, and he was persuaded 
that when St. Crepin was. made shoemaker and patron of shoemakers, 
it was as a revival of the Latin word crepida, which was taken from 
the Greek, and meant pantoufle (slipper or sandal). So, he suggests, 
St. Crepin should be in good French St, Pantou flier. By the 
same mode of reasoning, St. Crispin in England might with equal 
accuracy be designated St. Boot. On the other hand, the author 
of the Dlctionnaire des Reliques is not only far from supposing 
SS. Crispin and Crispianus to be creations of the imagination, but, 
on the contrary, is so impressed with the reality of their existence 
th^t he says they each left behind th^m three bodies— -^ne each 



29 

at Rome, in the Church of St. Lawrence j one each at the 
IVIonastery of Lezat, four leagues from Toulouse ^ and one each at 
tlie abbey of Notre Dame cle Soissous. Whatever opinion may 
be entertained as to the supernatural occurrences alleged to have 
taken place at the death and burial of the two saints, there can 
be little doubt of their existence, that they taught Christianity at 
Soissous, and that they suftered martyrdom for their religion. 
They are worthy, then, of the pre-eminence accorded to them as 
patron saints of the craft which they honoured by their haudiwork, 
by their lives, and by their death. According to a statement 
made by the Rector of Favcrsham, Kent, at an Archaeological 
Society's meeting held in the autumn of 1872, after the saints had 
been decapitated their bodies were thrown into the sea, the waves 
-washed them ashore at Romuey Marsh, where they were piously 
recovered, and they were buried in the parish of Favershara, where 
their tomb is said to have been found in the ruins of a Benedictine 
Abbey founded by King Stephen in 1 147. The rev. gentleman appears, 
by some strange oversight, to have arrived at the conclusion that 
Crispianus was St. Crispin's wife. We have not been able to 
ascertain the evidences on which the tomb is held to be identified 
as that of the two martyrs. There is an English version of the 
lives of the saints, decidedly legendary, we are bound to say, but 
which selects this town of Faversham as the scene of their labours. 
It is contained in a quaint little volume entitled "The Delightful, 
Princely, and Entertaining History of the Gentle Craft," two of the 
minor objects of which are to shew why shoemaking is called "The 
Gentle Craft," and how the proverb first originated *' a shoemaker*s 
son is a prince born." The period to which the legends assigns 
their lives is the same as that to which the more reliable account 
tells us they belonged, namely, the Diocletian era 3 for the legend 
opens: — "When the Roman Maximinus (the colleague of Dio- 
cletian) sought in cruel sort to bereave this Land of all her noble Youth, 
or Youth of Noble Blood j the Virtuous Queen of Logria (which now is 
called Kent) dwelling in the city of Durovenum, alias Canterbury, 
or the Court of Kentish-men, having at that Time two young Sons, 
sought all the Means she could to keep them out of the Tyrant's 
Claws." She therefore counselled them — "suiting your selves in 
honest Habit, seek some Service to shield you from Mischance, seeing 
Necessity hath privileged those Places from Tyranny." "The two 
young Princes, which like pretty Lambs were straying they knew not 
whither, at length by good Fortune came to Feversham, w^here before 
the Day peep they heard certain Shooemakers singing." The song 
was a pleasant one, and the young princes being favourably impressed 
with the mirthfuluess that existed in so homely a cottage, knocked 



at the door, and were greeted with the exclamation, " What Knave 
knocks there? " The voice was followed by a journeyman shoemaker, 
who entered into conversation with the two disguised princes. After 
some preliminaries, they were apprenticed to the shoemaking for seven 
years. Both the brethren became successful craftsmen, although tlxey 
refused nothing that was put to them to do " whether it to wash Dishes, 
scour Kettles, or any other thing whereby they thought their Dame's 
Favour might be gotten/* Following the admonition of an old 
journeyman who would always say to the apprentices — 

" However Tbings do framo, 
Please well thy Master, but chiefly thy Dame." 

Their work gained for their master so great a reputation that he 
was appointed shoemaker to the Emperor Maxim inns. " Now," 
continues the legend, ''among all the Shooe-makers Men that came to 
t he Court with Shooes, young Crispine was had in great £steem with 
the fair Princess, whose Mother being lately dead, she was the only 
Joy of her Father; who always sought Means to match her with 
some Worthy Roman, whose Renown might ring throughout the 
whole World." But fair Ursula's heart was entangled by the 
shoemaker prince, and she soon found means to discover to him 
the state of her mind in regard to him. As she is engaged in 
this delicate task Crispin is credited with a sentiment which if 
characterised by an element of common sense is not free from 
a degree of sordidness scarcely consonant with the general idea of 
a saint. He is made to say, " If I were to chuse a Wife, 
then would I have one Fair, Rich and Wise : First to delight mine 
Eye ; Secondly, to supply my Wants 5 and Thirdly, to govern my 
House." Upon her declaration of love, Crispin disclosed to the 
princess the secret of his princely birth) and ultimately they were 
secretly married by a blind friar at Canterbury. There is a strange 
mixture of half-fact and extravagant fiction in the legend. We are, 
for instance, told "how Crispianus was prest to the War, and 
how he fought with Iphicratis the renowned General of :the 
Persians, who made war upon the Frenchmen." This is a curious 
jumble. By Iphicratis is no doubt intended the celebrated Athenian 
general, who lived six hundred years before the time of Cri5|>iauus, 
and who, by introducing some novel improvements in warfare, 
defeated the Thracians and Spartans. He was the son of a shoe- 
maker, and once when reproached with the meanness of his birth, 
said he should be the first of his family, whilst his detractor would 
be the last of his own. The legend perpetuates this incident in 
another form, the reproach being flung at Iphicratis by the Prince 
of Gaul. Iphicratis retorts "thou shalt understand that a Shooemaker's 



31 

Son is ^: IV^pc^ jBprn,;'.9?eaJ^?ii^g prot)ably. thajt a shoemaker's son 
roay have prmcely qualities. trisplauus, the shoemaker priuce, in 
fighting agaiost tliis son of a, shoemaker, fights on behalf of the 
Gauls like a second Hector, is the means of procuring peace, and 
wins such distinction as to gain the favour of Maximinus. In the 
meantime a child is born of the marriage of Crispin and the princess, 
and the triumphant return of Crispianns from tlie wars witnesses 
a most happy denouement. The high birth of tlie shoemakers is 
revealed, Maximinus is reconciled to the marriage of his daughter, 
and, as in the ordinary run of modern novels, everybody is *' happy 
ever after,'* When the secret marriage was "(Confirmed openly 
with great Joy aud Triumph," the shoemakers of the town 
made holiday, princely gifts being sent to them by Crispin ^nd 
Crispianns to enable them to maintain their merriineiM:. '* And ever 
after, upon that Day at Night, the Shooe-makers make great Chear 
and Feasting, in Remembrance of these two Princely Brethren 5 and 
because it might not be forgotten, they caused their Names to be 
placed in the Kalendar for yearly Remembrance, which you shall 
find in the Month of October, three Days before the Fea^t of Simon 
and Jude." We are thus supplied witli two distinct stories of the 
origin of the feast of St. Crispin, which on the one hand is htsld 
to commemorate the martyrdom of saints, . and on the other 
to commemorate the marriage of a shoemaker prince. Judging 
by the^ manner . in. which .ti>e holy-day has been turned into a 
holiday in. succeeding centuries, we should certainly be led to 
suppose that the matrimonial legend had commended itself, most to 
the easy. faith and ^raerry mood, of the artificers of "the ge^Ule 
craft.'* Although associated with, the nsauieof.St. Crispin,, the 
commemoration seems to be entirely dissociated from the martyrdom 
of the two. brothers.? This, however, may to some extent be 
accounted for in the chanije which has ; taken place with regard to 
many of the Church's festivals-— religious feast days in many instances 
being transformed into secular festivities. Though the accoui>t:.of 
the Roman Calendar may be accepted as historically the mosto^eliable 
yet the romantic inc?idents of the legerd. have taken the .stronger 
hold on the minds of shoemakers for some centuries. The romance 
has been- turned into a ballad, to be sung on St. Crispin's- night. . 



3i 



CT^^ Si^ooemaftrris Stonq on etifipimWi^ 0isbt* 



Two Princely Brethren once there were, 

right Sons unto a Kinfr, 
Whose Father, Tyrant Maxiiiiiuns 

to cruel Death did bring ; 
Crispiauus the one wns cali'd, 

the eldest of the Two, 
, Crispine it was the other's Name, 

who well had learn'd to woo, 

These Brethren then were after forc'd 

from Father s House to fly. 
Because their Foes to take their Lives 

in Privy wait did lye ; 
Into a kind Shooemaker's House 

they suddenly stept in. 
And there to learn the Gentie Craft 

did presently begin, 

And Five Years Space they lived so, 

with great content of Mind, 
So that the Tyrant could not tell 

whereas he should them find : 
Tho' every Day to Court they cauio, 

with Shooes for Ladies Feet, 
They were not known by their Attire, 

they us'd themselves to meet. 



At length unto the furious Wars 

was Crispianus prest 
Whereas his Knightly Prowess then 

he try'd above the rest : 
But Crispine found him better sport, 

would I had Crispine been, 
Tho King's fair Daughter lov'd him well, 

as it was after seen : 

But at the length so wisely wrought, 

as doth the Story tell, 
Her Father's right good Will he got, 

and every thing was well : 
And Crispianus came again 

from Wars Victoriously, 
Then Shooemakers make Holiday, 

and therefore so will I : 

And now for Crispianus's Sake, 

this Wine I drink to thee. 
And he that doth his Mark mistake, 

and will uot now pledge mo. 
He is not Crispianus's Friend, 

or worthy well I wot. 
To have a Lady to bis Love, 

as Crispine he hath got. 



It is supposed to be owing to the circumstance of these two 
brothers of gentle birth having engaged in the work that the art 
of shoemaking has been dignified with the title of *'the gentle 
craft J " and shoemakers are frequently designated the "sons** or 
" disciples " of St. Crispin. The odd saying " sl shoemaker's son 
is a prince born " may be held to be verified by the birth of a son 
to the legendary Prince Crispin and the Princess Ursula. 

In the "entertaining history" to which we have referred another 
origin is ascribed to the phrase "the gentle craft,'* although, we 
confess, that the story upon which it depends is yet more palpably 
apocryphal than the romantic lives of the Princes Crispin and 
Crispianus of the same work. It is contained in "The Pleasant 
Entertaining and Princely History of St. Hugh, with a particular 
Account of his Constant Love to the handsome Virgin Winifred." 
Sir Hugh, says this "history," was the son of the renowned King 
of Powis, a noble Briton born, and he loved the fair virgin Winifred 
who was the only daughter of Donvallo, the last king that reigned 
in Tegina, which is now called Flintshire. But she refused all 
offers of love, and determined on a religious life. Her father, who 
had been sent to Rome, died j and her mother having preceded 



8^ 

Whittier of Boston U.S., the poet of the Anti-slavery movement, who 
next to Longfellow, is the most popular of living poets in ''the 
States;'* and Hans Christian Andersen, of Copenhagen, whose charm- 
ing poetry and prose have won for him a high place not only in the 
esteem of his Danish fellow-countrymen but of other peoples, into 
whose languages his works have been translated ? The recognition of 
genius is always a gladsome thing, and we honour the appreciativeness 
of the Danes, when we are told that they lift their hats in respectful 
homage to this shoemaker poet as he passes down the streets of Copen- 
hagen. 

James Dacres Devlin, born at the commencement of the present 
century, was an accomplished litlerateur and yet one of the best boot- 
closers in Loudon. His shamrock-tongue (preserved amongst the 
rarities of the " St. Crispin *' Museum,) is one of the most marvellous 
pieces of "closing" in the world. Devlin, who was born in Dublin, was 
a wanderer from his youth upwards 3 but whilst excelling at his trade 
he at the same time managed to acquire a large and varied knowledge 
of men and books. He was essayist, poet, and journalist. At one 
period he resided at Dover, assisting in the editorship of the Dover 
Chronicle. Then he contributed to Leigh Hunt's London JournaL 
and afterwards removed to Hereford, where he wrote " Helps to Here- 
ford History, with some account of the great Mordiford Dragon." 
Subsequently he went to New York, where he was engaged as corres- 
pondent for the Daily News, He wrote several publications on the 
craft, and also started and conducted several short-lived trades' journals j 
but for some reason or another — probably because he lacked real 
business capacity — he could not succeed with them. He was a con- 
tributor to the Builder, the Spectator, and Notes and Queries, The 
latter years of his known life were spent in London, but he appears 
to have led a wretched existence, and about the year 1863 he '* passed 
into obscurity." Heaven only knows the depth of misery which that 
phrase may cover in regard to the subsequent period of poor Devlin's 
life. It is said he had accumulated a vast amount of matter anent 
shoes and shoemaking amongst all nations — the result of the researches 
of thirty years. He purposed writing a trade history and it was even 
announced, but his manuscript passed with him away from human "ken." 

A happier example of the achievement of literary eminence by one 
of the craft is that of John Kitto, (born 1804, died 1854). Deprived 
of his hearing in boyhood by an accident, then an inmate of Plymouth 
Union Workhouse, from which the friendless lad was apprenticed to 
the shoemaking, scarcely a drearier out-look could be imagined for his 
sensitive soul, swelling with the consciousness of capability for better 
things. But there were rifts in the clouds through which the promise 

M 



82 

of a brighter dawn fitfully gleamed. His talents attracted the attention 
of a sympathizing friend, Mr. Grove, of Exeter, who had both the 
will and the power to help him, and he was enabled to engage to " the 
top of his bent" in the intellectual pursuits that were his chief joy 
and solace. From thence the success of the workhouse lad became 
assured. Kitto's " Pictorial Bible," and his " Encyclopaedia of 
Biblical Literature,** with other publications on religious topics are 
amongst the memorials which this deaf workhouse apprentice has 
left of the intellectual power and energy that may grace the occupant 
of a shoemaker's seat. Amongst the truly great must be named that 
hero of humble life, John Pounds, (born 1766, died 1859) the philan- 
thropic but crippled cobbler of Portsmouth, the founder of the first 
ragged school. His position was of the lowliest, his means were of 
the scantiest, but he had a great heart, rich in love for the neglected 
waifs and strays of juvenile humanity — 

" Spilt like blots about tbe city 
Street and quay and palace wall.*' 

And he took them into his pity. That poor cobbler in his lowly stall, 
in some back street of Portsmouth, gathering the " little blackguards" 
as he fondly termed them, around him to do them all the good that 
lay in his power is at once a rebuke to the ostentatious charity- 
mongering of the day, and an example for those who think their 
opportunities and influence for good are but infinitesimal. Here was 
a cobbler, poor and unlearned, whom no inconsiderable portion of 
''society'* would have regarded with supercilious contempt 3 but what- 
ever his hand found to do, he, with a lofty Christian spirit, did with 
all his might. And so from the cobbler's stall there shone the light 
of as true a greatness as ever illumined this earth with its benign 
influence. To quote from John Plummer*s " Songs of Labour :'* — 

** The poor shoemaker there 
No rich reward might claim ; 
Ho tomb of marble pure and white 
Records bis honoured name ; 
Yet in his heart he felt a bliss 
To mortals seldom known. 
And held within his breast a ^oy 
That others mig:ht not own. 

Oh, brnve John Pounds ! 0, noble heart ! 

Whoso deeds of goodness shame 

The paltry schemes of statesmen proud 

Who talk themselves to fame. 

Ho solved the problem of the ago, — 

Ho taught neglected youth, 

And bode them leave the ways of sin 

For those of God and truth." 



Then there is Richard Buxton^ (born 1786, died i865) the selfrtaughf 
shoemaker-botanist of Manchester, whose whole leisure waS devotecl 
to the peaceful but absorbing pursuit of botanical research. He was 
himself a proof of the truth of his own dictum, that "the trutf 
botanist is generally an ardent admirer of all that is good and beauti- 
ful in nature.'* Side by side with him must be placed.ThomaS Edwards/ 
(born 18 1 j) the shoemaker naturalist of Banff, who gratified his pre- 
dilections for natural history, manifested from an early period of his 
life, by exhaustive investigations of the natural history of the district 
in which he resided. The Christian ministry, past and present, has 
numbered many men who have risen from the shoemaker's bench. 
Notable amongst them was the Rev. William Huntington, a popiilar' 
preacher of the last century, who, in derision of academic degrees, 
used to append to his name the initials S. S. — Siuner Saved — a pecu-: 
liarity still to be observed on the title-pages of his writings No^ less- 
eminent was the Rev. Samuel Bradburn^ "the Peniostbenes of Meth-: 
odism," who was born at sea in the Bay of Biscay. Ou^.pf. bis^j 
biographers represents his eloquence as "resembling the sublimity of 
his native ocean and the lofty and jutting rocks that overhang the 
stormy gulf which was the scene of his birth." He was one of a 
trio,— the other two being Rowland Hill and Nathan Wilks, — to 
whom all the anecdotes of clerical eccentricity current in England 
during the early part of the present century were attributed. He was 
witty and satiric and was noted for the severity of his Philippics. On 
one occasion, at the Wesleyan Conference, some young ministers 
were dwelling on the great sacrifices they had made for the cause of 
Christ, and, as Bradburn thought, were laying rather too much stress 
upon them. As most of them had risen from occupations quite as 
humble as his own, Bradburn suddenly rose and said : " Yes, dear 
bretliren, some of you have had to give up your all for itinerancy 3 but 
we old men have had our share of these trials. As, for myself, I gave 
up for the ministry two of the best awls mih^* kingdom — a great 
sacrifice truly to become an ambassador of Gpd' in the Church and a 
gentleman in society." Bradburn was one rf the earliest Presidents 
of the Wesleyan Conference. A mooe recent instance is that of the 
Rev. John Burnet, a well-known Congregational.'minister of Camber- 
well, who was born in 1789, died Juiie<ioth, 1862. He was a friend 
of John Foster, the great essayist; and Robert Hall, the eloquent 
Nonconformist divine, and was himself a keen politician. His politi- 
cal activity and his association with movements of public utility and 
progress brought him into contact with eminent men of both Houses 
of Parliament, and he exerted a wide-spread influence. His oratory 

M 2 



84 

was of a sufficiently high character to compel the approving critic- 
ism of the Times newspaper, — uo mean compliment under the cir- 
cumstauoes. Noah Worcester, D.D., (born 1758, died 1B37) an 
American clergyman, was another famous son of St. Crispin. In 
addition to his ministerial duties he edited one or two religious publi- 
cations and also wrote several theological works. " One of the sound 
and strong pillars ** of the revolution, which gave being to the United 
States, — Roger Sherman — began life as a shoemaker. Later he 
turned lawyer and ultimately rose to bejudge of one of the Superior 
Courts. He was one of the signatories of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence in 1776, was a Member of the first Congress and continued 
a Member of that body till his death — a period of nineteen years. 

Assuredlythebead-rollof the "gentle craft*' is one of which the 
humblest sons of St. Crispin may justly be proud. The lives and 
genius of the men we have named are sufficient to cast lustre on 
any calling, as they certainly do upon the humble but usefdl trade of 
sboemaking. 

''Tli« Criiqpiii inida t Whai better tnde oan be ? 
Anoient end famona, iodependent» free ! 
No other trade a brighter claim can find. 
No other trade displaya more wealth of mind ! 
No other ealUng prouder names can boast, 
In arms, in arts— themselves a perfect host ! 
All honour, seal, and patriotic pride : 
To dare heroic and In suffering tried I" 

Dkvun. 




him to ^'that bourne whence no traveller returns/' the virgin 
forsook her father's princely palace in Pant Varre, and ''made her 
whole abiding in the most sweet and pleasant valley of Sichnaunt, 
and lived there solitarily, and careless of all company or comfort. 
It chanced that in the summer's heat, this fair virgin being distressed 
for want of drink, and not knowing where to get any, there sprung 
up suddenly a crystal stream of most pleasant water out of the 
hard ground, whereof this virgin did daily drink, unto which, God 
Himself gave so great a virtue that many people, having washed 
therein, were healed of divers and sundry infirmities wherewith 
they were born/* Here she was visited by Sir Hugh, who, how. 
ever, sought her love in vain, and, at length, endeavoured to lighten 
his heart by a Continental tour. His heart, however, "true as the 
needle to the pole," still turned with praiseworthy fidelity to its only 
love. He found no attraction in Italian scenes or Italian beauties, 
and returned to England again. Landing at Harwich, he there fell 
in with a merry journeyman shoemaker," with whom he agreed to 
*' tramp," or, in politer terms, " travel the country." He learnt the 
trade of a shoemaker and wrought in a shoemaker's shop for a year, 
when he determined to make his way into Flintshire with the object 
of making another effort to melt the obduracy of the lady's heart. 
But it was the era of Diocletian, and, like many other Christian 
martyrs at that period, Winifred had been imprisoned and was now 
condemned to die for refusing to deny her faith. When Sir Hugh 
heard of her misfortunes he heartily commended her faith and 
constancy, and, eventually, was himself imprisoned, and destined 
to the same trial of faith as she. But during the time of his im- 
prisonment the journeymen shoemakers were constant in their 
attentions to him, so that he wanted for nothing. In requital of their 
kindness he called them "gentlemen of the gentle craft," and a few 
days before his martyrdom it is said he composed the following ballad 
in their honour : — 

Of Craft and Crafts-men more or less. 

The Gentle-Craft I must commend, 

Whose Deeds declare their faithfulness, 

and hearty Love unto their Friend, 

The Gentle-Craft in midst of Strife, 

Yields Comfort to a careful Life. 

A Prince by Birth I am indeed, 

the which for Love forsook this Land, 
And when I was in extream need, 
I took the Gentle-Craft in hand : 
And by the Gentle-Craft alone, 
Long time I liv'd, being still unknown. 



Spending my Days in sweet Content^ 

with many a pleasant sugared Song, 
Sitting with Pleasure's Compliment^ 
whilst we recorded Loyen Wrong : 
And while the Gentle-Craft we ua'e. 
True Love by us was net abus'd. 

Our Shooes we sow'd with merry Notes, 
and by our Mirth ezpeU'd all Moan, 
Like Nightingales from whose sweet Throats, 
most pleasant Tunes are nightly blown : 
The Gentle-Craft is fittest then. 
For poor distressed Gentlemen. 

Their Hinds do mount in Courtesie, 

and they disdain a Niggard's Feast. 
Their Bodies are for Chivalry, 
all Cowardise they do detest : 
For Sword and Shield, for Bow and Shaft, 
No Man can stain the Gentle- Craft. 

Yea, stmdry Princes sore distrest, 

shall seek for Succour by this Trade, 
Whereby their Grief shall be redrest, 
of Foes they shall not be afraid ; 
And many Men of Fame likewise, 
Shall from the Gentle-Craft arise. 

If we want Money over-Night, 

e'er next Day Noon God will it send. 
Thus we may keep our selves Upright^ 
and be DO Churls unto our Friend : 

Thus do we live where Pleasure springs. 
In our conceit, like Petty kings. 

Our Hearts with Care we may not kill, 

Man's Life surpassoth worldly Wealth ; 
Content surpabseth Riches still, 

and fie on Knaves that live by Stealth 
This Trade, therefore both great and small. 
The Gentle-Craft shall ever call. 

Both the lover and the beloved were fated to die upon the same day. 
St. Winifred, being allowed to choose her own mode of dying, was 
bled to death. Her blood was caught in a cup, and this being 
poisoned. Sir Hugh was required to drink the fatal draught. Her 
body was buried contemptuously by the well where she had so long 
dwelt. The body of her lover was gibbetted, that his flesh might 
be devoured by the fowls of the air. Just before drinking the 
poisoned draught, he bequeathed his bones to the shoemakers, as he 
felt that he would have nothing else to leave them. A company of 
shoemakers passing one day the gibbet upon which the martyr's 
skeleton hung, St. Hugh's bequest (for he was now " saint '*) was 
called to mind and that very night they stole the bones, and, in order 



3S 

to ''turn them into profit and avoid suspicion/' they made them into 
tools. When they met to decide what should be done, one of the 
number, it is affirmed, said : — 

My Friends I pray you listen to me, 
And mark what B. Hugh's Bones shall be. 

First, a Drawer and a Dresser, 

Two Wedges, a more and a lesser : 

A pretty Block Three Inches high. 

In fashion squared like a Die, 

Which shall be oall'd by proper Name, 

A Heel-Block ah, the yery same : 

A Hand-leather and Thumb-leather likewise. 

To pull out Shooe-thread we must derise ; 

The Needle and the Thimble shaU not be left alone. 

The Pincers, the Pricking- Awl, and Rubbing stone ; 

The Awl, Steel and Tacks, the sowing Hairs beside. 

The Stirro^ holding fast, while we sow the Cow-hide, 

The Whetstone, the Stopping-Stick, and the Paring-Knife, 

All this doth belong to a Journey-man's Life : 

Our Apron is the Shrine to wrap these Bones in ; 

Thus shroud we S. Hugh's Bones in a gentle Lamb's Skin. 

Hence, shoemaker's tools have come to be known as ''St. Hugh's 
bones." The well mentioned is known as St. Winifred's well to 
this day. Its waters have been credited with miraculous powers; 
many wonderful cures having been effected, it is alleged, by their in- 
strumentality. Crutches and other helps to infirmity are still to be seen 
in the crypt of the church, as evidences of the cures performed, having 
been left behind by those who came limping, but who went away 
rejoicing that they had been made whole. This circumstance, coupled 
with the statement that it is situated in Flintshire, would be sufficient 
to identify St. Winifred's Well, at Holywell, as the phenomenon with 
which is associated so sad a tragedy. But the well is an element in 
another legend more sensational than the former, although it is assign- 
able to a later date. Winifred is stated to have been a beautiful and 
devout virgin living in the early part of the 7th century. She was 
placed under the protection of Beuno (afterwards Saint), a descendant 
of the Kings of Powys, who had founded a church at Holywell. A 
young prince of the name of Caradoc, a son of King Allyn, made 
overtures to her at a time when the rest of the household were at 
church. She fled from him ; and he, mad with rage, pursued her, and 
with one blow of his sword struck off her head. The head bounded 
down the side of the hill, into the church, and up to the altar, where 
her friends were at prayer, and, as it rested there, a clear and copious 
fountain immediately gushed out. St. Beuno affixed the head to the 
body again, animation returned, and the only mark remaining of the 

F 2 



i6 

cruel blow was a white line encircling the neck. Winifred survived 
her decapitation fifteen years during the latter part of which time she 
became an inmate of the Convent of St. £lerius, at Gwytherin^ in 
Denbighshire, of which she afterwards became the abbess. As 
for Caradoc, he dropped down dead upon the spot where he had 
struck the villainous blow. So much for the legend, which, of course, 
derives its chief interest for us from its connection with the " gentle 
crafty*' as associated with St. Hugh. 

With the martyrdom of the patron saint of shoemakers, which 
took place when the Roman £mpire was in its decadence, we come 
to the period when we may speak more particularly of the earlier 
fashions of the foot-clothing amongst the early inhabitants of our 
island home. There is no need to go back to that time 

" When clothing sumptuous or for use. 
Save their own painted skins our sires had none." 

Nor is there any necessity to indulge in any special conjectures 
as to the exact origin of foot-gear in Britian, as it was doubtless 
similar to that we have suggested in respect to older peoples of the 
earth. We really have no very clear evidence as to the character of 
their foot attire, although it has been supposed that it would be 
akin to the shoes made of raw cow-hide, that was till a comparatively 

(i^j.ia.) recent date worn in some remote parts of Ireland. Fig la is a 
specimen of this type of shoe, the engraving being taken from an 
example in the Royal Irish Academy. Then came the Roman 

(K^.13.) subjugation of the Britons, and of this fig. 13 is a relic. It is a 
curiously wrought ancle-boot and was found in a Roman burial-place 

(,Fig. 14.) at Southfleet, Kent, in 1802. Figs. 14 and i^ are two views of an 
ancient sandal belonging probably to the Roman-British period. The 
soles are of cork, and the upper part is somewhat elaborately adorned. 
The feet attire of the early Saxons was in a considerable degree fash- 

(,Flg, 16.) ioned on the Roman model. Fig. 16 is a species of high shoe of Saxon 
make. It partakes partly of the character of the sandal, the series of 
openings across the foot giving to the upper leather the appearance of 
sandal thongs^ It is extremely like the Persepolitan boot already 
noticed except that it is devoid of buttons. It is believed to be as 
old as the early part of the 8th century, as it is taken from the 
'' Durham Book '* or book of St. Cuthbert, now preserved amongst 
the Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum, and supposed to have 
been executed by Eadfried, afterwards Bishop of Lindisfarne, who 
died in 721 a.d. According to the records of the period wooden 
shoes were worn in the 9th and loth centuries, but Strutt thinks we 
are to understand by this that the soles were of wood, and tke upper 



37 

part of some more pliant material. The most distinguished individ- 
uals wore shoes with wooden soles. The shoes of Bernard, King of 
Italy, the grandson of Charlemagne, were found entire on the opening 
of his tomb, and are thus described by an Italian writer: — ''The 
shoes which covered his feet are remaining to this day, the soles of 
wood and the upper parts of red leather, laced together with thongs. 
They were so closely fitted to the feet that the order of the toes 
terminating in a point at the great toe, might easily be discovered ; so 
that the shoe belonging to the right foot could not be put upon the 
left, nor that of the left upon the right." Thus the fashion of rights 
and lefts which was thought to be a comparatively modern notion has 
the merit of antiquity. Fig. rj, a still earlier example, appears to 
have belonged to the left foot of the wearer. So recently, however, 
had this system of making boots and shoes fallen into disuse that Dr. 
Johnson quarrelled with the accuracy of Shakespeare's couplet de- 
scriptive of the eagerness of the smith (in King John) " standing on 
slippers, which his nimble haste had falsely thrust upon contrary feet." 
Johnson in his usual dictative spirit, absurdly remarked, " Shakespeare 
seems to have confounded the mans shoes with his gloves. He that 
is frighted or hurried may put his hand into the wrong glove, but 
either shoe will admit either foot. The author seems to be disturbed 
by the disorder which he describes." Tne adornment of boots and shoes 
which obtained amongst the Romans seems to have been revived 
at this period, for whilst the noble and wealthy indulged in the 
enrichment of their foot-gear with precious stones and gilt, the 
middle classes, only kept from following the example set them to the 
fullest extent by lack of wealth, were fain to content themselves with 
shoes embroidered in a very ornate style. The Anglo-Saxon princes 
and the chief ecclesiastical dignitaries were wont to wear shoes or 
buskins set off with gold. Charlemagne who was contemporary with 
the Saxon period of English history, was accustomed on state occasions 
to use shoes adorned with gems -, and the buskins of his son Louis le 
Debonnaire were of gold or of gilt stuff. In a splendidly illuminated 
Benedictional, which was executed between 963 and 984, now in the 
possession of the Duke of Devonshire, is a figure of Etheldrytha, a 
princess of East Anglia, who is represented as wearing shoes of 
gold tissue or cloth of gold. Strutt informs us there was a kind of 
half boot worn so early as the loth century, and tlie only difference 
between that and the half-boot of modern times is that the former 
laced close down to the toes, whilst the latter only laces as far as the 
instep. As with the Saxons so with the Danes, the favourite colour 
for their feet attire was black. At one period the Danes adopted an 
entirely black costume, hence their sobriquet of ** Black Danes." 
They adopted, too, the Raven as their national emblem. In process 



38 

of time, however, they discarded their *' nighted colour/' and adopted 
gayer hues. The transition from the feet attire of the Saxons and 
Danes to that of the early Normans is not very marked. There w^as 
a great similarity between them, and it was not till the Normans 
were quietly settled in England that their attention was turned to 
more elaborate fashions in the construction of their shoes, which 
(J%.i7.) became more varied in style and enriched in make. Fig. 17 is an 
example of an ordinary Norman ancle-boot. It is taken from a 
remarkable painting in distemper which, we believe, still exists on 
the wall of a small chapel beneath Anselm's tower in Canterbury 
Cathedral. The white dots upon the black bands along and across 
the foot which are a modified imitation of the thongs of sandals are 
probably intended to indicate ornamental studs. The inward twist 
is but a foreshadowing of one of the most remarkable fashions that 
ever made men ridiculous. Towards the close of the Conqueror's 
reign, a boot similar to the modern half- Wellington came into vogue 
and the first person of importance to adopt it was the Conqueror's 
eldest son Robert, who was hence designated Curta Ocrea, or short 
boots. Strutt says this appellation could not have been given him 
because he was the first person to introduce the fashion into the 
country, as short boots were worn by the conquered race long before 
his birth. He conjectures that it arose from his being the first 
Norman to adopt it, and that it was used in derision at his having so 
far complied with Saxon fashions. Another authority, Wace, (who 
died 1 184) says of Robert, " He had short legs, hence he was booted 
with short hosen," so that the nickname may have been an indirect 
way of joking about his short legs, just as Edward I. was known as 
" Longshanks." Long and sharp pointed toes were first introduced 
in the reign of William Rufus. The immoderately long pointed 
shoes, however, are said to have been invented by Henry Plantagenet 
Duke of Anjouto conceal a very large excrescence he had upon one of 
his feet. The fashion seems at the outset to have met with consider- 
able approval. The length of the shoes increased prodigiously. The 
toes of some of these boots and shoes were made like a scorpion's 
tail. The clergy strongly pronounced against them as foppish and 
unbecoming and as an attempt to belie Scripture where it was 
afifirmed that no man can add a cubit to his stature ^ but, says Hume, 
in his History of England, *' such are the strange contradictions of 
human nature ! though the clergy of the time could overturn thrones, 
and had authority to send a million of men on their errand to the 
deserts of Asia, they could never prevail against these long pointed 
shoes." A courtier, named Robert, improved upon the first idea by 
filling the toes of the boots with tow and then twisting them round 
like ram's horns. This procured the inventor the nickname of 



39 

comado or '^ horned.*' It was a fashion mightily liked by the nobles^ 
notwithstanding clerical denunciation. For as the great poet delineator 
of the varying phases of the human heart has said^ 

" New fashions. 
Though they be nerer so ridicalous. 
Nay, let them be unmanly, yet are followed." 

The fashion at this period does not appear to have been long main- 
tained, but later it experienced a revival in which the fashion was 
still more preposterously exaggerated. Amongst the peculiarities of 
foot-gear of the period, Norman shepherds are represented with a 
curious swathing reaching from the top of the shoe to the knee. 
Some writers assert that the practice of enswathing the legs with hay 
bands was the origin of the cross gartering, so fashionable amongst the 
Saxons and Normans, a fashion which was perpetuated from genera- 
tion to generation. It is alluded to in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night j" 
and Barton Holyday, who wrote lifty years later than the great 
dramatist, refers to— 

'* Some sharp, cross-gartered man. 
Whom their loud laugh might nickname Puritan." 

The feet costume of the Plantagenet period is to be found exemplified 
in the monumental effigies of the time. The effigies of our early 
sovereigns are generally represented with shoes decorated with bands 
across as if in imitation of sandals. The shoes of Henry II. as shewn 
upon his tomb at Fontevraud are green, adorned with bands of gold, 
the spurs being fastened with straps of red leather. Broad ribbon-like 
bands of gold are the prevailing features of the boots of Richard I. 
Such richly adorned foot clothing was generally worn by the nobility 
and royalty all over Europe at that time. When the tomb of Henry 
VI. of Sicily (who died 1197) was opened at the Cathedral of Palermo, 
his feet were found to be clothed with costly shoes, the upper part 
of which consisted of cloth of gold embroidered with pearls, and the 
soles of cork covered with the same cloth of gold. The shoes of his 
queen Constance (who died in 1 198) were also found to similarly 
consist of cloth of gold, there being two openings in them that had 
evidently been filled with jewels. King John of England in ordering 
four pairs of women's boots, required that one pair should be embroi- 
dered with circles. A peculiar kind of decoration was adopted with 
a class of low shoe, which was secured on the foot by a broad strap 
passing over the instep. It was sometimes coloured black and 
trimmed or bound with white. The shoes with which the feet of 
Henry the Third's eihgY in Westminster Abbey are clothed, are 
remarkable for their splendour. They are crossed by intersecting 
bands of gold, which form an entire covering of diamond4ike spaces^ 



40 

aDd these are each filled in with the figure of a lion — the national 
emblem. Edward I. was no friend to foppery or ostentation, and he 
himself set an example of simplicity of attire which considerably 
checked the continuance of the extravagance of costume which had 
found favour in preceding reigns. The general costume for the feet 

{Fig. iS.^ now was a close fitting boot, or tight stockings and shoes (fig. i8). 
Towards the latter part of the reign, the spirit of extravagance 
however began again to break out, and in the reign of the second 
Edward, the ordinary foot-gear of the men was an ancle boot, — 
half-boot, half-shoe — more or less ornamented, the toes pointed, and 
a broad opening across the instep. Buskins secured round the calf 

{Fig, 19.) of the leg by a garter, as at fig. 19, were also worn -, those of the 
rich and noble being of splendid material. Kings wore them at their 
coronations, and Bishops wore them as they celebrated mass. The 
latter as they put them on, accompanied the operation with a prayer 
that '* the feet might be shod with the preparation of the gospel of 
peace." Women in common life wore a species of button boot 
which reached to the calf of the leg, and was identical in style with 
a prevailing fashon in ladies* boots at the present time. The Minor 
Friars established in the early part of the 14th century were to " touch 
no money, eat no fiesh, and be shod with wooden shoes," the last 
mentioned provision being a satire on the stealthy and filthy feet of 
the unshod Carmelites. The half-century or more during which 
Edward III. swayed the sceptre of England was not only brilliant 
with military achievements, but was remarkable as a most important 
period in the history of general costume. It is indeed considered to 
be the most glorious era in the annals of *' the gentle craft.'* Its 
glories were not altogether without alloy, for the extravagance of the 
period seems to have elicited from the House of Commons a 
complaint against the general usage of expensive clothing out of 
harmony with the position and income of the people -, and an Act was 
passed to moderate these extravagances and to regulate apparel in 
accordance with the rank and wealth of individuals. Whilst, however, 
most sumptuously adorned boots and shoes were worn by the rich 
and noble, real taste was manifested in their construction. Of this 
several beautiful examples were discovered on tlie walls of St. Stephen's 
Chapel, Westminster, when altering the chapel for the House of 
Commons. One of these, (£g. 20) displays the choicest art. Mr. 
Fairholt, speaking of it, says " it is impossible to conceive any shoe 
more exquisite in design. It is worn by a royal personage and 
brings forcibly to mind the rose windows and minor details of the 
architecture of this period j but for beauty of pattern and splendour 
of eflect this English shoe of the Middle Ages is 'beyond all Greek, 
beyond all Rofnaufame^* for their sandals and shoes have not half 



4* 

*'the glory of regality' contained in this one specimen." The 
window design here depicted is exactly analogous to the rose window 
in the transept of old St. Paul's (as shewn in Dugdale's view of old 
St. Paul's) before the great fire of 1666* We can therefore the better 
appreciate Chaucer's description of the parish clerk Absolon, in the 
"Miller's Tale," who had "Paule's window corven on his shoes." 
A second example, taken from the same series of paintings as the 
illustration, shews a black boot with the top of lattice work, with red 
liose peeping through the apertures 5 whilst a third has the top of the 
boot adorned with a geometric pattern, the left shoe being black and 
the stocking blue and the right shoe of the same figure being white 
with a black stocking. Such were some of the oddities of the period. 
A fourth was similar in style to the first mentioned, less ornate but still 
extremely graceful. This in its simple form was the style usually 
worn by the common people. The boots and shoes of the 14th 
century were made extravagantly "right and left" and the sharp 
pointed toe was sometimes made to turn outwards. Geoffrey of 
Malmsbury in rebuking the luxury of the costume of the time, says, 
that there was " flowing hair and extravagant dress 5 and then was 
invented the fashion of shoes with curved points." In the reign of 
Richard II., who was a great fop, luxuriousness and extravagance 
flourished to an extraordinary extent. Richard himself set the 
example, for one of his coats was estimated, on account of the 
precious stones with which it was embroidered, to be worth the 
enormous sum of 30,000 marks — a mark being equivalent to 13s. 4d. 
Chaucer laments the sinful, costly array of clothing, " which maketh 
it so dear to the harm of the people." Amongst the allusions to foot- 
gear in Chaucer, the carpenter's wife in the " Miller's Tale " is 
described as wearing shoes "laced on her legges high,"' — doubtless the 
prototype of the modern side-laced boot, which appears to have been 
introduced about this period. The clergy fraternised with the people, 
it is related, in the extravagance of fashions. Chaucer, by the 
ploughman, condemns their luxuriance and says, — 

" They ben as proude as Lucif are ; 
♦ • # 

So roted in riches, 
That Christ's poverty is forgot." 

When out of church he further complains that they joined in the 
amusements of the people, dressed in 

'* Scarlet and grene gay gownes,'* 
and with 

"Bucklers broad, and swords long, 
Baiidrick, with baselards kene, 
Such tools about their neck they hoDg ;" 

and like the laity had 

"Long pikes on their shcon," 



42 

Similarly Piers Plowman makes his Austin Friar, in charging upon the 
Franciscans the forgetfulness of their high calling, say — 

"Fraooia had hia brethren 
Barefoot to walk ; 
Now have they buckled shoes, 
Lest they hart their heeb ; 
And hose in hard weather, 
Fastened at the ancle." 

Sumptuary laws were enacted to restrain the popular extravagance 
but they were of little practical value, seeing that the precept was 
not accompanied by example in higher quarters. Among^st the most 
noteworthy features of the costume of this reign was the absard 
length and the eccentric extravagancies of the toes of the boots and 
shoes, — an exaggerated revival of an earlier fashion. Of this style 
(Fig. 21,) fig. 21 is a tolerably moderate example^ but the fashion was carried 
further, and the points of the toes were fastened to the knee by 
chains of silver or gold. The author of " Eulogium," a writer of 
the period, says " Their shoes and pattens are snouted and picked 
(piked) more than a finger long, crooking upwards, which they called 
crakowes, resembling devil's claws, and fastened to the knees with 
chains of gold and silver." These chains became necessary in order 
to enable the wearers to walk with some degree of freedom. Baker 
in his " Chronicle," gives 1382, as the date of the first introduction 
of chains. Mr. Planche says *' These crackowes were evidently 
named after the city of Cracow, and were, no doubt, amongst the 
fashions imported from Poland, which had been incorporated with 
the kingdom of Bohemia by John, the grandfather of Richard's 
Queen Anne." The fashion seems to have been as prevalent on the . 
Continent. We are enabled to give four French examples of the 
14th century, from the excellent and extremely valuable work of 
(Fig, 22.) Lacroix on the Histoire de la Chaussure — ^figs. 22, 23, 24, 25. Fig aa 
(Fig, 23.) was the boot of John of Chalons, Count of Tonnerre^ ^g, 23 is an 
example of plate armour for the foot, preserved in the Ordinance 
(Fig, 24.) Museum, at Paris -, fig. 24 is from a painting of the period ; and 
(Fig, 2^,) fig. 2j is from a manuscript of the period preserved in the 
Bibl. Nat. of Paris. Lacroix says the length of the toe varied 
according to the rank of the wearer. The common people wore 
them half-a-foot in length -, rich citizens, a foot -, simple knights, a 
foot-and-a-half 5 and the nobility, two feet. There were princes 
who had them two-and-a-half-feet in length. The most ridiculous 
were considered the most beautiful. It is to this absurd custom that 
may be traced the proverbial expression : — Eire sur un grand pied^ or sur 
un Ion pied dans le monde (to occupy a good footing in the world). 
Jn France, as in England, '^all sorts and conditions of men," and 



45 

women too were carried away by the rage for " long-peaked shoon.*^ 
Their use was frequently condemned by the decisions of Councils 
and the enactments of Kings. They were satirised by poets and 
anatbemized by preachers, but the love of the forbidden fruit was 
too strong for poor human nature. The Papal bulls contained severe 
remonstrances on the osteotatious extravagance the priests and monks 
displayed in their costume, especially their boots and shoes. Pope 
Urban V. blamed them especially for using the long snouted shoes. 
Several bishops forbade their use, treating them as a sin against 
nature. The Church directed all its censures agaiust this fashion 
of foot-gear not merely as contrary to nature, but as a disfigurement of 
part of the human body. The Council of Lavaur forbade ecclesi- 
astics the use of the long boot,^ and to their domestics the use of 
the long shoe. The temporal authority, as we have already indicated 
also joined with the Church in the condemnation of these pedal 
extravagancies. This was tlie case on the Continent, as well as 
in England. An early enactment of Charles V. commenced by 
interdicting their use by secretaries and notaries of the king. In 
1368, letters patent were issued with the object of definitively abolish- 
ing them. These forbade ''all persons of any quality whatsoever, 
on pain of being mulcted in a penalty of ten florins, from using in 
the future long-peaked shoes, that superfluity being contrary to good 
manners, and a mockery of God and his Church, by worldly vanity 
and mad presumption." The penalty would be equal to thirty-four 
francs French money, or roughly twenty-seven shillings Anglice, 
Money, too, was more valuable then than now. But even as " threat- 
ened men live long," so this condemned fashion still continued 
to prevail. It is almost incredible that men should have gone into 
battle so shod, but we are told that at the battle of Sempach, in 1386, 
where Duke Leopold of Austria was killed, the knights, having 
dismounted before going into action, were forced to strike off the 
long points of their shoes in order that they might move about 
with the necessary degree of freedom. Chaucer not only condemned 
what he considered to be the people's " sin in superfluity," and their 
" horrible disordinate " manner in dress, but he tried to allure them 
to a more sensible fashion : — 

<' Of shooD and boottes new and faire, 
Look at least thou have a pair, 
And tbat tbey fit so fetously. 
That these rude men may utterly 
Marvel sith they sib so plain. 
How tbey come on and off again." * 

. ; -l 

* Mr. Sparkes Hall considers that the conditions of ^he poof-Ar^ MfiB^d'ifr We 

G 2 



Bat the poet's good sense was unavailing. Incidentally we may 
mention that a similar eccentricity to the ''long peaked shoon" was 
adopted by the ladies as a head-dress. It towered like a mitre to a height 
of some two feet, from which floated a whole rainbow of gay ribbons-^ 

" Leaving like lofty Alps, that throw 
O'er minor Alps their shadowy sway. 
Earth's humbler bonnets far away.'* 

Anne of Bohemia, the queen of Richard IL, introduced the side- 
saddle. Buckles were used as fastenings for foot-gear as early as the 
14th century j the shoes of a skeleton of the period exhumed in 
Ireland affording evidence of this. Buckles, too, appear on " the long- 
peaked shoon" of Robert Attelath (who died in 1376) as depicted 
on his monumental brass at Lynn. During the Plantagenet period 
chain and plate armour for the feet and legs was employed to a con- 
siderable extent. Crakowes continued, more or less, in use, at least 
amongst the nobility, until the overthrow of the House of York. 
But during a later part of Henry VI. 's rfeign a novel substitute was 
sometimes employed, and this was a long piked patten or clog. 
When this was worn a shoe with a shorter toe was used, as if to 
make the contrast between the two all the more marked (see fig. 26). 
The side-laced ancle-boot also became largely adopted amongst the 
middle-classes. During the reign of Edward IV. the long-toed 
crakoes, at this time termed poulaines^ again became pre-eminently 
fashionable. ^'Even boys," says Monstrelet, ''especially in the courts 
of princes, had points at the toes of their shoes a quarter of an ell long 
and upwards." In a ballad of the period (from the Harleian MSS.) 
occurs the following lament : — 

" Ye proud gallants heartless, 
* « » • 

Have brought this land in great heaviness 
With your long-peaked shoon ; 
Therefore your thrifte (prosperity) is almost done." 

Parliament, in 1463, enacted a law prohibitmg the making of 
shoes, the " beakes " or " pykes " of which were longer than two 
inches beyond the toe. It was also provided that any shoemaker or 
cobler making them longer, unless for privileged persons, should be 
cursed by the clergy, and also be mulcted in the sum of twenty 
shillings, of which a third was to go to the king, a third to the cord- 
wainers of London, and the remainder to the chamber of London. 
Every cordwainer that shod any man or woman on a Sunday was to 
pay a like sum. Defaults were to be adjudged by the Wardens of the 
Cordwainers' Company. The people then passed from one extreme to 
the other and now widened the toes of their shoes to such a degree, that 



45 

according to Paradin, ^' they wore slippers so very broad in front as to 
exceed the measure of a good foot/* — ^the shoe forming a "duck bill" 
in shape. The fashion is supposed to have been derived from Flanders. 
This inordinate breadth of toe was even adopted in mailed foot-gear. 
There is at present in the possession of Captain Senhouse of Ashby 
St. Legers, Northamptonshire, a suit of plate armour of the period, 
the mailed boot of which has a toe 6f inches in breadth. It is pro- 
portionately thick through and has the appearance of a substantial 
poultice to the feet. 

The shoemakers had by this time become a very important body 
of men. " The Cordwainers* and Cobblers* Company,'* just referred 
to, had been incorporated in London by Henry IV. in 141 o, for even 
then the word " cobbler " had not become a term of reproach. * 
The business was designated at a more recent date 'Uhe art and 
mystery of a cordwainer 3" and the company was by a late charter 
styled, " The Master, Wardens, and Commonalty of the mystery of 
Cordwainers of the city of London." There was an earlier incorpor- 
ated Company of Shoemakers in the ancient city of York, for in 1398 
they were presented with a large bowl by Archbishop Scrope, a prelate 
afterwards beheaded by Henry IV., for alleged participation in the 
Percy rebellion.f This precious relic is still to be seen, having been 
in 1808, on the dissolution of the Company, presented to Mr. Sheriff 
Hornby, who in turn gave it to the Cathedral. In the middle of the 
bowl the arms of the fraternity are richly embossed. It is edged 
with silver, is double gilt, and is supported by three silver feet. . The 
following inscription runs round the rim : — 

''Eicharde, arche bescbope Scrope, grant unto all tho that 

drinkis of this cope XLti dayes to pardon. 

Robert Gk>bson, bescbope mesm, grant in same form 

aforsaldXLti dayes to pardon. — Robert Strensall." 

Similar guilds were established in France about the same period. 
The " Confrerie des Compagnons Cordonniers ** was established in 
the Cathedral of Paris, in 1379, ^7 Charles the Wise. We have a still 



* The term "cobbler" is said to have meant a dealer in shoes as well as a 
shoemaker. Is it not equally likely that "cobbler" indicated a "mender" as well 
as a "maker"? This would not necessarily exclude the other definition that he 
was a "dealer." 

+ Recent enquiries have thrown some doubt on the assertion that the bowl was 
given to the Cordwainers' Company. It has been affirmed that it was presented to 
some general trades' guild by the Archbishop. However we prefer to accept the 
commonly received story respecting the bowl until stronger evidence is adduced to 
its discredit. 



4<S 

earlier record oF the existeDce of a guild or corporation at Ghent. In 
1304, the Cordonniers of Ghent provided amongst other things that 
whoever lived an immoral life could not be admitted a member of the 
brotherhood, and whoever, after having taken the oath of membership, 
should form any illicit connection, should be ignominiously erased 
from the roll of the brotherhood. As far as we can gather none of 
the guilds or brotherhoods went back to a remoter period than this. 
One of the most ancient of the Flemish Guilds was that of Namur. 
It was flourishing in 1376 The authorities in granting its incorpor- 
ation phrased it that they had yielded to the prayer and request of the 
entire brotherhood, the *' maisters and varlets des Corbesiers, Cordu- 
waniers, Coureurs et Patineurs de la ville de Namur.** The hope 
was expressed that these statutes would advance " the honour and 
glory of the blessed Son of God, and of the Virgin Mary, and of all 
the blessed Saints of Paradise." It was not till 1489 (Nov. 4), that 
the shoemakers of Brussels formed their '' Corporation des Cordon- 
niers.'* The chief festival day of the guilds was the 25th of October, 
and this, together with the religious observances originally practised 
in connection with the anniversary (and Archbishop Scrope's gift is 
an evidence of the patronage of the church) indicates with tolerable 
certainty that SS. Crispin and Crispianus were first commemorated as 
saints until the saints* days became feast days and the marriage of 
Prince Crispin, or King Crispin, as he has sometimes been denomi- 
nated, became the legendary substitute (as associated with merry- 
making) for the martyrdom of the two Christian brothers. The 
Foreign corporations or guilds in the 15th century were wealthy and 
influential and their high days were celebrated with great ostentation. 
The celebrations of the Flemish guilds appear to have excelled all 
others in brilliancy. They were accompanied with a degree of 
ceremonial almost royal in its splendour and elaborateness. Nothing 
could be more splendid or more picturesque than their grand proces- 
sions, their solemn marches, their local rejoicings, their anniversary 
celebrations, their funeral rites for deceased brethren, and all the public 
ceremonies by which they sought to appeal to the senses, dazzle the 
eye, and strike the imagination. " Picture to yourselves," says 
Lacroix, " these shoemakers clothed in glistening armour and with 
uniforms bearing the colours of their Corporation, preceded by a 
companion on horseback, who holds aloft the Trade banner, de- 
filing in military fashion in the light of torches, whose fitful glare 
throws into relief the emblems of the guild." The pride and pageantry 
of these elaborate ceremonials have passed away, never more, we 
imagine, to return. The battle of Agincourt was fought upon St. 



4) 

Crispin's day, (25th October), 14155 and Shakespeare, in his "Kidg 
Henry V.," has done honour to the warlike monarch and the day, in 
the eloquent and stirring appeal to the soldiers before the battle, which 
he has put into Henry's mouth : — 

" This day is oalVd the Feast of Crispian : 
He that out-liues this day, and comes safe home. 
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named. 
And rowse him at the Name of Crispian. 
He that shall see this day, and Hue old age. 
Will yeerely on the Vigil feast his neighbours. 
And say, to morrow is Saint Crispian. 
Then will he strip his sleeue, and shew his skarres : 
Old men forget ; yet all shall be forgot : 
But hee'le remember, with aduantages, 
What feats he did that day. Then shall onr Names, 
Familiar in his mouth as household words, 
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter^ 
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester, 
Be in their flowing Cups freshly remembred. 
This story shall the good man teach his sonne : 
And Crispine Crispian shall ne're goe by, 
From this day to the ending of the World, 
But we in it shall be remembred ; 
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers : 
For he to day that sheds his blood with me, 
Shall be my brother : be he ne're so vile. 
This day shall gentle his Condition. 
And Gentlemen in England, now a bed, 
Shall thinke themselues accurst they were not here ; 
And hold their Manhoods oheape, whiles any speakes, 
That fought with ys Tpon Saint Crispines day." 

In France, besides the 25th of October, the 15th of May and the 6th 
and 8th of March were consecrated to the memory of the two saints, 
SS. Crispin and Crispianus, but these were associated with religious 
services. As items connected with our subject we may mention that 
the English Company of Leather-sellers claim an antiquity co-equal 
with the Anglo-Saxon era whilst the Company of Skinners date their 
establishment at least as far back as the reign of Henry III., when it is 
alleged they had a hall. The latter company were amongst the first 
guilds chartered by Edward HI. Towards the close of the 14th century 
the fete of SS. Crispin and Crispianus was celebrated in France by 
dramatic representations, in which the ordinary subject was the life 
and martyrdom of the illustrious shoemakers. Three parts of one of 
these dramatic compositions, a " Mystere de Saint Crespin et Saint 
Crespinien " have been preserved. It was performed by a society of 
companion shoemakers belonging to the Parisian brotherhood. The 
author was probably an ecclesiastic. At the close, and after th© 



48 

martp^om and glorification of the two saints^ Grod is represented as 
saying :^ 

''Entens 2i moy, amy Crespin, 
Et toy anssi, Crespinian : 
Pour ensaucer Tonneur, le bien, 
Qu'avee enyera moy deaaerri, 
A la fin que soy^s seryi 
Du pueple, je vueil establir 
Au pape, qui en a desir, 
Car il fora une chappelle 
£n nom de youb, plaisant et belle : 
Ainsi le vueil." 

Which may be Englished : Listen to me, friend Crispin, and thou 
also Crispianus: in order to grant the honour and blessing which 
thou hast deserved from me, and that thou mayest be honoured by 
the people, I will place in power a Pope, who shall have the desire to 
build a chapel in your name, pleasant and beautiful : so may it be." 
Thus Innocent II., if he did not actually build, sanctioned the build- 
ing of a chapel in honour of the patrons of shoemakers in the town of 
Soissons. Of a very different character is the play, " The Shoo-makers 
Holy-day. Or the Grentle Craft " — " a merry conceited comedy,'* 
founded on the life of Sir Simon Eyre, the builder of Leadenball 
Market, London.* Sir Simon lived in the reign of Henry VI., and 
carried on business in Leadenhall Street as a shoemaker. Hearing 
that a vessel laden with leather from Tripoli had been wrecked upon 
the coast of Cornwall, he thought he might advantage himself by the 
purchase of the cargo. Having collected all the money he could, he 
went to Penzance, purchased the leather, and trading successfully with 
it he laid the basis of a fortune sufficient to enable him to build 
Leadenhall, to obtain the Lord Mayoralty of London, and the honour 
of knighthood. The play is conceived in the most humorous strain. 
It is dedicated " To all good Fellowes, Professors of the Gentle Craft : 
of what degree soever 3" and was acted before Queen Elizabeth one 
New-year's night, by the Right Hon. the Earl of Nottingham, 
Lord High Admiral of England, and his servants. The plot of the 
play is simple. Sir Hugh Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, had a young kinsman, 
Rowland Lacy, who fell deeply in love with Mistress Rose, the daughter 
of the Lord Mayor, Sir Roger Otley. To mar the young couple's love 
the Earl procured for his kinsman the commission of Colonel of a 
Company that had gone to the French wars. But young Rowland was 
not to be outdone. He surreptitiously resigned his place to a friend, 

* The authorship is attributed in Bibliotheca Heheriana to Dr. Barton Holyday, 
who was son of one Thomas Holyday, a tailor of Oxford ; but HazUtt, in his 
Bibliogrwphy of Old Engluh Literature, ascribes it to Thomas Decker, the well- 
known friend of " rare Ben Jonson ; " whilst according to Lowndes' Biblioffi-apher's 
MantMl, it is the work of Thomas Doloney. 



49 

and came disguised as a Dutch shoemaker to the house of Simon Ejrre— * 

self-designated " the mad shoemaker of Tower Street ♦ # • 

a trae shoemaker, and a gentleman of the gentle craft" — ^who supplied 

the Lord Mayor's household with shoes. Rowland when he first 

comes upon the scene in the garb of a Dutch shoemaker, soliloquizes : — 

''How many shapes baue Qods and Kings deoisd. 
Thereby to oompasse their desired loues. 
It is no shame for Rowland Laoy then, 
To cloth his cunning with the Gentle Craft, 
That thus disguised, I may ynknowne possesse 
The onely happy presence of my Rose : 
For her haue I forsooke my charge in France, 
Incur'd the Kings displeasure, and stir'd yp 
Rough hatred in my yncle Lincolnes breast : 

loue how powerf all art thou, that canst change 
High birth to basenesse, and a noble minde. 

To the meane semblance of a Shoemaker t 
But thus it must be, for her cruell father. 
Hating the single vnion of our soules, 
Hath secretly conuey*d my Rose from London, 
To barre me of her presence, but I trust 
Fortune and this disguise will further me 
Once more to yiew her beautie, galne her sight : 
Here in Tower-street with Eyre the Shoomaker, 
Meane I a while to worke ; I know the trade, 

1 learnt it when I was at Wittemberge, 

Then oheere thy hoping spirits, be not dismaid. 
Thou canst not want doe Fortune what she can^ 
The Qentle Craft is lining for a man." 

The scene where Lacy, (known afterwards throughout the play as 
" Hans the Dutchman ") is introduced to the presence of Eyre is full 
of fine rollicking humour : — 

Enteb Lact snroiNo. 

Laeif, —Der was een bore yan Oelderland, Frolick si byen 
He was als drunke he cold nyet stand, yp solcese byen, 
Tap eens de canneken drinck scheue mannekin. 

Firke. Master, for my life yonders a brother of the Gentle 
Craft, if he beaie not Saint Hughe's bones He forfeit my 
bones, he's some ynlandish workeman, hire him good Master, 
that I may leame some gibble gabble, 'twill make ys worke 
the faster. 

Eyre, Peace Firke. a hard world, let him passe, let him ya- 
nish we haue Joumymen enow, peace my fine Firke. 

Wife. Nay nay y'are best follow your mans councell, you 
shall see what will come on't, we haue not men enow, but wee 
must entertaine euery butterboxe ; but let that passe. 

Hodge, Dame, fore God if my master follow your coimsell 
hee'le consume little beefe, he shall be glad of men, and he can 
catch them. 

Firhe. I that he shall. 

Hodge, Afore God a proper man, and I warrant a fine 
workeman : Master farewell, dame adue, if such a man as he 
pannot finde worke, Hodge is not for you. Ofer to go€» 

n 



56 

S^, SUy my fine Hodge. 

Firh, Faith and your fore-man goe dame you must take a 
ionmey to leeke a new Journey-man, if Roger remoue, Firko 
followee, if Saint flugbes bones eball not be set a worke, I 
may piicke mine awle in the wals, and goe play : fare ye well 
master, God buy dame. 

Byrt, Tarrie my fine Hodge, my briske foreman, stay Firke, 
peace pudding broth, by the Lord of Lndgate I lone my men 
as my life, peace you gaJlimaufrey, [Hodge if he want worke 
I hire him, one of you to him, stay he comes to ys. 

Lacy, Goedeu daoh miester, end y yro oak. 

Firhe, Nailes if I should speak after him without drioking, 
I should ohoak, k you friend Oake are you of the gentle craft. 

Xaey. Yaw, yaw, ich'beene den skoomaker. 

Firle* Den skoomaker quoth a, and hearke you skoomaker, 
haue you all your tooles, a good rubbing pin, a good stopper, 
a good dresser, your foure sort of Aules, and your two balles 
of wax, your paring knife, your hand and thum-leathers, 
and good Saint Hughes bones to smooth your worke. 

Laey* Yaw, yaw, be niet vor veard, ik hay all the diogen, 
Toour mack skooes good and deane. 

Firhe, Ha, ha, good master hire him, he'll make me laugh 
80 that I shall worke more in mirth than I can in earnest. 

Eyre. Heare you friend, haue you any skill in the mystery 
of Cordwainers ? 

Laof, Ick weet niet wat you seg ich yerstaw you niet. 

Firhe, Why thus man, Ich yerste yniet, quoth a. 

Lacy* Yaw, yaw, yaw, ick can dat well doen. ' 

Firhe* Yaw yaw, he speakes yawning like a Jack daw, that 
gapes to be fed with cheese curds, he*ll gtue a yillanons 
pull at a Can of double beere, but Hodge, and I haue the yan- 
tage, we must drinke first, because we are the eldest Journey- 
men. 

Syi'e, What is thy name ? 

Zjoey, Hans, Hans, Meulter. 

Eyre, Glue my thy hand, thou art welcome, Hodge, enter- 
taine him, Firke bid him welcome, come Hans, run wife, bid 
your maids, your truUibubs, make ready my fine mens break- 
fasts : to him Hodge. 

Hodge* Hans, th'art welcome, yse thy selfe friendly, for we 
Are good fellowes, if not, thou sbalt be fought with, wert thou 
bigger than a Gyant. 

Firhe, Yea, and drunk with wert thou Gargantua, my master 
keepes no Cowards, I tell thee : hoe, boy, bring him an heele- 
blocke, here's a new Journeyman. 

The disguise of Lacy was effectual, and his strategy succeeded most 
thoroughly. Eyre's journeymen are full of fun and frolic, and their 
words and deeds are instinct with merriment. The character of 
Firke, the comic man of the piece, is intensely droll. In one place 
he reminds us that a favourite practice amongst shoemakers of keeping 
** Sunday-Monday " is very old fashioned. The men are having a 
little idling jollity when Eyre and his wife appear upon the scene, 
whereupon says Firke, " Mum, here comes my Dame and my Master, 



5^ 

shell scold on my life, for loytering this Monday, but all's one, let 
them all say what they can, Monday's our holyday 5 " and the jovial 
fellow at once begins to suig. The close of the piece, as a matter of 
course, finds Rowland Lacy married to Rose Otleyj the noble 
kinsman is appeased by the king's intervention 5 and Sir Simon 
Eyre, now the successor of Sir Roger Otley in the Lord Mayoralty 
of the city, is honoured by his royal sovereign. Lord Mayor Eyre is 
said to have signalised his year of office by giving a feast to all the 
shoemakers' apprentices in London upona Shrove-Tuesdays and to have 
obtained from the king a patent to sell leather at Leadenhall market 
two days in the week. Amongst the phraseological designations 
which the shoemakers are made to apply to themselves in this comedy 
are those of '' brave bloods of shoemakers 3 heirs-apparent to Saint 
Hugh, and perpetual benefactors to all good fellows."* 

This seems a fitting juncture at which to introduce by way 
of recapitulation and illustration, the ballad — ''A song^ in praise 
of the Gentle Craft, showing how Royal Princes, Sons of Kings, 
Lords and Great Commanders, have been Shoemakers of Old, to 
the honour of this Ancient Trade." The ballad, which was set to 
the tune of " the Evening Rambles," was written by one Richard 
Rigby, " a brother of the Craft." It runs thus : — 

a &onq in i&tai%t of ftte i&entfe €taft 

I siDg in praise of tho shoemakers, 

Whose honour no person can stain ; 
In every age they dare to engage, 
And victory still they did gain. 

No craft in the world can compare 
With shoemaking for I declare 
Who reads but the story will set forth their glory, 
Commending them everywhere 

As persons of honoured fame and renown ; 
Then let not their glory be trampled down. 

Sir Hugh was a prince and a lover, 

Yet learned the shoemaking trade, 
Which yielded relief when sorrow and grief 

lu travel had him dismayed. 
When he of his love was denied 

He crossed the ocean so wide, 

* " The Shoemaker's Holyday " has gone through several editions, the title- 
pages and dates of which are given in an appendix to the present work. A Qerman 
translation of the edition of 1618 was published at Thorn in 1862. Of a similar 
type is "A merrie and pleasant Comedy : never before printed, called a Shoe-maker 
a gentleman. By William Rowley, 1638." *'The Cobler of Preston, by Charles 
Johnson," is another drama which seems in 'Hhe good old times " to have basked in 
the sunshine of public favour, 

H a 



Beftoniiifl: Mxm after, tiien irith a Uag^a danghtor, 
A glorified martryr he died. 

ThoB shoemaken hare been irae men of renown ; 
Then let not their glory for oyer go down. 

There's Crispin and brave Crispianua, 

Both brothen and sons to a king. 
In sorrow and woe from Ck>nrt thej did go, 

When nnder a shoemaker^s wing 
AK>teotion and safety they foond. 

For apprentices straight they were bound 
Disguised like strangers, from perilous dangers 

This harbour of safety they found. 

Thus prinoes of honoured fame and renown 
Haye shoemakers been that were heirs to a crown. 

Toong Crispin he won the fair daughter 

Of great Mazimus, for who 
Admitted could be but yerily he 

To draw on fair Ursula's shoe 
That honoured lady of fame ? 

For when to the palace he came 
He soon was admitted ; the shoes being fitted. 

This royal young beautiful dame 

Besought him for marriage, though heir to the crown : 
Thus shoemakers haye been braye lords of renown. 

flis brother went fourth for a soldier. 

Well armed to the Gallican shore. 
Where thousands he killed ; they neyer beheld 

8aoh eonquering courage before— 
The work being speedily done. 

And the enemy forced to run. 
Their General gallant, ooursgeous and yaliant, 

Was likewise a shoemaker^s son, 

Thus loaded with honoured fame and ronown. 
Then let not the braye shoemaker^s glory go down. 

Sir Simon, Lord Mayor of fair London, 

He was a shoemaker by trade. 
Who whilst he was Mayor, the truth to declare, 

A dinner of fritters he made, 
Inyiting the 'pprentices all, 

Who readily came at his call. 
That day they were merry with bowls of Canary, 

For he from his word would not fall : 

Thus good Simon Eyre of fame and renown, 
He was a shoemaker and Lord of the town. 

Thus yaliant and noble shoemakers 
The city and court did adorn 

For deeds they have done. A shoemaker's son, 
I tell you, he is a prince bom. 

There's no other trade in the land 
Had ever such royal Command 

For honour and glory ; then read but the story- 
Then, then you will soon understand 

That shoemakers, they have been famed for ronown 
Then let not their triumph and honour go down. 



53 

Here is another poetic tribute to the worth of the shoemaking 
fraternity, taken from an edition of the ''Delightful^ Princely and 
Entertaining History " already quoted — 

STo an 1^$ g:O09 lleomen of f^t emtU^9xBSU 

You that the OentU-Crafl profess. 
List to my Words both more or less, 
And I shsdl tell you many Things, 
Of Worthy and Renowned Kings, 
And divers Lords and Knights also. 
That were Shooemakers long ago, 
Some of them in theii> Distress, 
Delighted in this Business, 
And some for whom great wait was laid. 
Did saye their Lives by this same Trade. 
And other some, in Sports and Qame, 
Delighted much to learn the same : 
^o other Trade in all the Land, 
They thought so fit unto their Hand ; 
For evermore they still did find, 
Shooemakers boro a gallant Mind, 
Men they were of high CSonceit, 
The which wrought many a merry Feat, 
Stout of Courage were they still, 
And in their Weapons had great Skill ; 
Travellers by Sea and Land, 
Each Country's way to imderstand ; 
Wrong they wrought not any Man, 
With Reason all Things did they scan. 
Good Houses kept they evermore. 
Relieving both the Sick and Poor 
In Law no Money would they spend, 
Their Quarrels Friendly would they end. 
No Malice did they bear to any, 
But shew'd great Favour unto many. 
Offences they would soon forgive. 
They would not in Contention live. 
Thus in Joy they spent their Days, 
With pleasant Songs and Roundelays, 
And God did bless them with Content, 
Sufficient for them always sent. 
And never yet did any know, 
A Shooemaker a Begging go. 
Kind they are one to another, 
Using each Stranger as his Brother. 
Thus lived Shooemakers of old, 
As ancient Writers have it told ; 
And thus Shooemakers still would be ; 
So Fame from them shall never flee. 

A very flattering picture truly of the honour of the disciples of 
St. Crispin, evidently drawn by the hand of one who was ^^ to their 



54 

failings ever kind." Yet the satire upon the craft penned at a much 
earlier period would probably hold good at the time the '^ yeomen 
of the gentle craft " were so warmly eulogised : — 

*' I tel thee (priest) when shoemakers make shoes 
That are wel sowed, with never a stich amisse. 
And use noe crafte in uttring of the same : 
When taylours steale no stuffe from gentlemen, 
When tanners are with corners wel agreede. 
And both so dresse their hydes that we go dry, 

• * * • 

Even then (my priests) may you make holyday." 

Returning to the subject of gtfilds we must not omit mention of 
the Corporation of Shoemakers which existed in Northampton. We 
are not able to give any precise dates as to the establishment of the 
guild, but the following interesting particulars are quoted from the 
Borough records, collated by the late Rev. C. H. Hartshorne in his 
*' Historical Memorials of Northampton : " — 

''At a common assembly holden at the Guildhall, on tho 30th Jan., in the 
4th year of Edw. VI. 

That every cortlwainer that now dwelleth or hereafter shall dwell within 
this town, being a master, and doeth occupy as master in the same craft, 
shall pay yearly to the chamber of the same town, 28. of lawful money of 
England. 

Item, that every journeyman that now worketh or hereafter shall work 
within this town, shall pay yearly unto the said ohamber Id., and although 
they work but one week within this town, they shall pay Id. ; and the master 
with whom the said journeyman or journeymen shall happen to work, shall 
stay it in their hands off their wage, and answer the same to the wardens of 
their corporation. 

Item, that every shoemaker that is disposed to set up shop within this 
town and shall not been prentice within the same, shall pay at his setting up 
dOs. ; that is to say, 13s. 4d. to the mayor for the time being, 13s 4d. to the 
chamberlain of the town, and 3s. 4d. to the occupation. 

Item, that every shoemaker that hath been or shall be prentize within 
this town that is disposed to set up shop and to occupy as master, shall pay 
16s. and 8d. ; that is to say, 10s. to the mayor for the time being for his 
franchise and setting up, 3s. 4d. to the chamberlain, 3s. 4d. to the occupation. 

Item, that every shoemaker that is disposed to sot up shop being born 
within this town, shall pay for his franchise or setting up to the mayor for 
the time being 20d., and to the occupation 20d. 

Item, if any shoemaker within this town that is man and doth occupy as 
man, that doth set another man's servant a work, being of the same occupa- 
tion, that hath wrought a fortnight with any on© of them, except he be law- 
fully parted from his said master and with his good will, that if any do 
offend in the same, to pay 6s. 8d. for every time, half to the mayor and half 
to the occupation. 

Item, further, if any journeyman of the same occupation be detected of 
any untruth, and thereof due proof made, that then the warden of the same 



S5 

occupation for the time being, shall give warning unto them with whom the 
said offender doth work that they shall immediately put him forth of his 
work, and that he be not set to work by any man of the same occupation 
within this town, upon pain of erery time so offending, to pay 6s. 8d. ; that 
is to say, 3s. 4d. to the mayor for the time being, and 3s. 4d. to the occupation^ 

Item, that no shoemaker within this town at any time set forth stall in 
the market-place or before his shop to shew and soiling shoes or boots, upon 
pain for 3s. 4d. to the mayor and 3s. 4d. to the occupation. And that no 
shoemaker being not a f ranchised man take upon them to shew or sell any 
boots or shoes within the liberties of this town, upon pain to forfeit the same 
half to the mayor and half to the occupation. 

Item, that all the shoemakers within this town that doth set up and 
occupy as masters shall assemble themselves together by the consent of the 
mayor for the tim 3 being yearly upon the 25th day of October, and there 
ohuse two discreet men of their occupation, to view and search all manner of 
Hides being barked and sold within any place of this town, for the entent to 
know whether they be lawfully wrought or no ; and that no man put any on 
sale before they be searched and sealed upon pain of forfeiture of all sorry 
hides so put to sale, half to the mayor and half to the occupation : and these 
being assembled shall yerely choose two discreet men of their occupation to 
be wardens, to see good rule and order kept in their occupation for the year 
following, and that the old wardens and surveyors shall present the wardens 
and surveyors the next court day after the election before the mayor for the 
time being in the Guildhall, and there to take their oath, upon pain to pay 
as well the new surveyors and wardens as the old that do make default, 6b. 8d. 

Also that the wardens shall collect all fines and amercements, and yield a 
true account under like penalties ; and also if any journeyman or master 
contend with the wardens, he pay 6s. 8d." 

In all likelihood the shoemakers of Northampton formed a sort of 
trade corporation long before ij^i, the date of the above entries. 
Under date 1654 occurs the following entry — '' It was ordered that 
the shoemakers shall have a constitution among themselves as other 
tradesmen have, and as heretofore they formerly have had.*' The 
Official records of the borough of Daventry, going as far back as 
1574, shew the existence of provisions similar to those adopted at 
Northampton. For a series of years from that date these records 
contain entries of quarterly receipts from the Wardens of the 
Company of Shoemakers'; the Wardens, doubtless, as at Northampton 
collecting " all fines and amercements" and paying them over to the 
authorities. 

The nature of the connection which subsisted between the 
Company of Shoemakers and their Wardens on the one hand, 
(together with other Companies of Traders), and the Corporation of 
Daventry on the other, is best illustrated by Baker's account of a MS. 
volume which he found in the archives of that Borough. This, no 
doubt, is only an example of the state of things which obtained in 
Other towns and cities of England at the time in question, and it3 



5<S 

historical ralue therefore extends farther than the place to which it 
more immediately refers. Baker says : — 

''Among the corporation arobives is a MS Tolame containing its internal 
oeonomy and finances from the 16th of Elizabeth ; bj which it appears that 
each trade or company had two wardens, who paid into the chamber the 
flnea rscelved from foreigners (strangers) for admission to freedom, or the 
right of exercising their trades in the town ; and two bailiffs were annually 
chosen to sapeiintend and govern the whole community. Consecutive 
aoootmti of the 'quarterages' of the different wardens are given, and a 
diattnot entry is made at detached pages of the names of the companies of 
the 'Mersersy Wollendrap's, Taylors, Inkepers, and Fullers, with their 
wardens' the 'Shomakers, Tanners, Whittawaes, Gloyers, and Smithes, 
with their wardens ; ' and the * Husbandmen, Butchers, Victelers [traders in 
the necessaries of life, as bakers, &c.], Dyers, and Weayers, with their war- 
dens.' The bailiff's account for 1574 is headed thus : ' William Salter and 
Henry Roper were chosen Bayleves of Daventre 29 Sept. 1574, (16 Mis.) who 
took the office upon them at the feaste of All Saints (1 Nov.) then next fol- 
lowinge for one whole yeare.' The said bailiffs made their account upon the 
feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary, (2 Feb.) ' before the Burgesses 
and Wardens of eyerie companie of all the Recepts since they came into 
their office xxixU ix" yi^, whereof they have paid for the town in repairing of 
the Hall shoppes and other things for the said Town xxxi^^ xyi* yi^, so that 
the town doth owe the said Bayleves xlyij* whereof Robert Parker must ^yo 
of the same xxyij*.' All the parochial disbursements seem to have passed 
through their hands, as may be inferred from various items similar to the 
following : ' the said bayleves have paid for the town for moletaking, dressing 
of the halle^ the dark and sexton's wages,' &c. &c." 

In 1646 Henri Michel Biich, called Le Bon Henri, estab* 
Wished, at Paris, a religious order of shoemakers, called Freres 
Cardanmers, with the advice and assistance of Baron de Rents and 
under the direction of the cure of St. Paul de Paris. SS. Crispin and 
Crispianus were their patron saints and models. They lived in 
community and were governed by fixed statutes and officers both in 
their secular and spiritual concerns. The income derived from the 
sale of the shoes they made went to the common stock to furnish 
necessaries for their support, but the surplus went to the poor. They 
visited the poor in hospitals and prisons and did many other acts of 
piety and charity. The community was suppressed in 1789, and was 
re-established in 18 r 6, but has since we understand been discontinued. 

Passing again from the workmen to the work, we notice that the 
extravagant breadth of toe with narrow heels which succeeded the 
interdict laid on long peaked shoes by Edward IV., continued till the 
reign of Queen Mary. In i j jj so enormously wide had the toes of 
shoes become that the Parliament limited their breadth " and " says 
the quaint Fuller " it was fain to be ordered by proclamation, that 
none should wear their shoes broader at the toes than six inches." 
A rather singular fashion was adopted in the reign of Henry VIH, and 
it continued to be more or less prevalent up to the time of the Stuarts. 
This was the wearing of shoes with '^slashed" uppers, as if the 



i7 

wearers were suffering from corns and sought relief by slitting the 
uppers. One of the methods of fastening shoes adopted in the reign 
of Henry VIII. is indicated by the contents of a book of drawings by 
Hans Holbein painter to that monarchy and which subsequently came 
into the possession of Inigo Jones. From this it appears that the 
great master did not think it beneath him to make designs for 
*' hatbands and clasps for shoes.*' In Mary's reign shoe buckles were 
worn by all classes. The upper classes wore them of silver or copper 
gilt J the less wealthy using copper buckles. Philip Stubbes, the 
puritanical author of ''The Anatomy of Abuses/' 1.588, says, the 
fashionables of this period wore " corked shoes, puisnets, pantoffles, 
and slippers, some of them of black velvet, some of white, some of 
green, and some of yellow 5 some of Spanish leather and some of 
English, stitched with silk and embroidered with gold and silver 
all over the foot with gew-gaws innumerable." The pantoffle was a 
kind of slipper of which an idsa may be gathered from Stubbes' satire 
of them, He asks '' how should they be handsome, when they go 
flap, flap, up and down in the dirt, casting up the mire to the knees 
of the wearer." The corked shoes were high-heeled and continued 
in fashion amongst the ladies the greater part of the 17th century. 
William Warner in Albion's England depicts the sorrow witli which 
two old gossips lament the state of the country which, according to 
their notions, was going to be ruined at the latter end of Elizabeth's 
reign, by fashionable excess. 

" When we were maids (quoth one of them) 
Was no such new-found pride, 
Then wore they shoes of ease, now of 
An inch-broad-corked high/' 

Bows or shoe strings came into use at this period. Gray referring 
to Sir Christopher Hatton dancing in the presence of Elizabeth, 

says — 

" flis bushy beard and skoe-stringt gi*eeii, 
flis high-orown'd hat and satin doublet, 
Moved the stout heart of England's queen, 
Though Pope and Spaniard could not trouble it." 

Butler records the prevalence of this fashion in his time when he 

makes his redoubtable knight and lover, Sir Hudibras, pay court to 

the capricious widow whose favour he sought in the following 

terms : — 

** Madame, 1 do, as is my duty, 
Honour the shadow of your shoe-tie." 

There seems to have been some subtle charm in green shoe 
strings, for later a writer in the Taller, admonishes a certain great 
shoemaker in the West End of London for having had the temerity to 
expose in his shop-window, shoes and slippers with "green lace and 

I 



58 

blue heels.'* The use of shoe-strings was continued during the reign 
of James I. and Charles I. Herrick writes of 

" A careless shoe-striag, in whose tie 
I see a wild ciyility." 

The beaux disported themselves in double silk laces> with silver 
fringes and tags 5 ties of silk and linen were worn by those who were 
less heedful of fashion : whilst the commonalty used leather fasten- 
ings. During the reign of Charles I. large bows or roses were worn 
in front of the shoes and when these were adorned with gold ornaments 
they were very expensive. John Taylor, the water poet, alludes to 
this extravagance when he speaks of those who — 

" Wear a farm in shoe-strings edged with gold, 
And spangled garters worth a copyhold.'' 

Elizabeth was still seated on the throne of these realms, when the 
chopine, one of the greatest monstrosities of foot-gear was introduced 
[Fig.HJ.) (fig. 27). Hamlet mentions it when he salutes one of the lady- 
actors: ''What, my young lady and mistress! By'r lady, your 
ladyship is nearer heaven than when I saw you last, by the altitude of 
a chopine ! " The chopine was of Eastern origin and varied in form 
and height. Thomas Coryate in his ''Crudities" (161 1) says it 
was "so common in Venice that no woman whatsoever goeth 
without, either in her house or abroad ; it is a thing made of wood, 
covered with leather of various colours, some with white, some red, 
some yellow. Many of them are curiously painted 5 some also of 
them I have seen fairly gilt. There are many of these chopineys of a 
great height 5 even half a yard high 5 and by how much the nobler 
a woman is by so much higher are her chopineys. All their gentle- 
women, and most of their wives and widows that are of any wealth 
are assisted and supported either by men or women when they walk 
abroad, to the end they may not fall. They are borne up most 
commonly by the left arm, otherwise they might quickly take a fall." 
Raymond describes the Venetian women as wearing chopiues as 
high as a man's leg, and says they " walke betweene two handmaids, 
majestically deliberating of every step they take.*' Howel described 
the Venetian ladies as consisting of three parts, one part wood 
(meaning their chopines), one of apparel, and the third part being a 
woman. Similarly when one was asked how he liked the Venetian 
dames he laughingly remarked that they were mezzo carro, mezzo 
ligno (half-flesh and half-wood), and he would have none of them. 
The chopines were not inappropriately termed " wooden scaffolds." 

Soon after the accession of the Stuarts there appears to have been 
a partial revival of the fashion of forked toes to the shoes, for a 
writer of the period (i6ia) says, "A fashion we have lately taken 
up is to wear our forked shoes almost as long again as our feet, not a 



S9 

little to the hindrance of the action of the foot; and not only so, but 
they prove an impediment to reverential devotion : for as on,e notes 
* our boots and shoes are so long mounted that we can hardly kneel 
in God*s house.' *' During the reign of Charles I. high boots were 
worn by all classes of people, (fig. 28) and sometimes the tops were {Mg.^S. 
turned down (fig. 29) when walking to display the rich lace with (^^^"^9 
which they were lined. When riding they were turned up. These 
boots were of Spanish leather and were worn rather broad at the toe 
except by Puritans who refused to follow the example of the " graceless 
gallants,*' the cavaliers, in this respect, wearing sharp pointed boots 
in their stead, lest they should be thought vain and frivolous. Fig, (^^".30 
30 is engraved from the boots worn by the notorious John Lilbourne. 
The tops of the boots worn at this period were sometimes so broad 
as to compel the wearer to straddle most ridiculously in walking* 
With tbe restoration of the " merrie monarch '* came the French boot 
with its ample top and decoration of rich lace (fig. 31). High CFig.S^ 
heeled shoes were the fashion amongst English ladies of the 17th 
century and as one of the "vanities '* of the world formed a topic for 
Puritanic pulpit denunciation as in a sermon, " High-heel' d Shoes for 
Dwarfs in Holiness.*' So, too, buckles again came into vogue in the 
reign of Charles II., but were eschewed by the Puritans, who con- 
sidered the shoe-ties were " more decent and modest than those new- 
fangled, unseemly clasps or buckles.*' The Puritans held them to be 
" eflfeminate and immodest ornaments.** On this account the elder 
Disraeli in his ''Curiosities of Literature," thinks that the ''sublime 
Milton, perhaps, exulted in his intrepidity in still wearing latchets.*' 
The lower classes wore a very clumsy form of shoe, contemptuously 
termed " clouted.'* In an elegy on Donne who died in 163 1 they.are 
designated by the phrase by which their foot-gear was known in con- 
tradistinction to the macaroon, the coxcomb of the period. Thus 

" A macaroon , 

And no way fit to speak to clouted shoon." 

It was in the same century that one Nicholas Lestage, a shoemaker of 
Bordeaux, distinguished himself by the manufacture of a pair of boots 
without a seam. He had introduced himself to the notice of Louis 
XIV., when that monarch was staying at Bordeaux, whilst his 
marriage with the Infanta of Spain was being negociated, by present- 
ing him with a remarkably beautiful pair of boots. The work was 
so artistic as to elicit universal admiration. It was then said of him 
•'Que chacun bl&me le metier, 

De Vallene et du Oordonnier, 

Vous m6me le rendez illustre." * 

• « Let no one blame tbe trade 
By whom our shoes are made ; 
For 70Q (Lestage) have made it noble." 

I 2 



6o 

In 1677 a book of poems was published on the subject of the seamless 
boots presented to the king by " le sieur Nicholas Lestage," master 
shoemaker to his Majesty. Lestage resided at Bordeaux, where he 
carried on a prosperous business, keeping twenty experienced hands, 
who all strove to excel each other in industry and excellence. He 
was happy in finding in his better half fchere moitiej a real help-meet, 
for 

"S'il est iin matetre homme, elle est mattresse femme.*' 

The structure of the boots presented by Lestage to his sovereign are 
described as having been so perfect, as to have surpassed all that had 
been seen in the shape of chaussures up to that time. They were 
made without his taking the royal measure. They were adorned with 
designs of lilies (fleurs de lisj, and were enriched with decorations 
of gold. So delighted was Louis XIV. with them that it is said he 
wore them at his nuptials, and was 

" Dans la solemnity 
Da grand jour de son manage 
Bavy da trayaii de Lestage."* 

This present to the king led the Bordeaux shoemaker to riches and 
honour, for he was chosen as the one 

" Qui seul pouYoit chausser le plus grand de nos roys 
Avec oommandement de suivre ce grand prince, 
Poar le chausser toujours, de province en proyince."f 

His fame as a clever master of the " gentle craft " became wide- 
spread so that when he visited Paris he found it had preceded him. 
His brother manufacturers, more numerous than at Bordeaux, having 
been apprised of his arrival, wished to do him honour, for they were 
proud of him. To quote again from the quaint language of the 

poems — all 

" Vinrent en foule rendre hommage 
A I'illustre artiste Lestage 
Et pour leur maitre ravoliant 
Et jusques au del le loUant, 
Honneurs, festins royals, caresses, 
Diyertissement, all^gresses, 
L' accompagn^rent chaque jour. "4: 

* " In the solemnity 
Of the great day of his marriage 
Rayished by the work of Lestage." 

+ "Who alone could 'shoo ' the greatest of our kings, — 
Being commanded to follow that great prince, 
To provide his foot-gear, from province to province." 

X All came to render homage to the illustrious artist Lestage, and for their 
master avowed him, praising him up to the skies. Honours, royal feasts, caresses, 
diyersious, and mirthfulness accompanied him each day. 



(5i 

This welcome gave to him a new spirit of emulation and the denre 

to distinguish himself by a truly brilliant master stroke. The result 
was his boot without seam^ which he offered to his royal master in 
1663. That boot, described as "a miracle of art," is said to have 
been all of a piece, at least to all appearance, no one being able to see 
a place in the boot which had been pierced by the thread. The 
mystery of its make sorely puzzled the disciples of St. Crispin, and 
not being able to penetrate the secret they exclaimed, " Comment, 
diable, a-t-il fait cela ? " It was declared that — 

** It antiquity ni le soleil 
N'ont jamais rien yeu de pareil 
A cette admirable chaussure." 

(Neither antiquity nor the sun had seen the like of that admirable 
boot). The extravagance of admiration was carried to the extreme 
point, when it was said — 

" Le grand maltre Lestage 
Sur ses comp^titeurs emporte I'ayantage, 
lis Yont tous de ooncerfc et veulent prendre part 
A sonder son adresse, h descouvrir son art. 
lis manient cent f ois sa botte sans couture, 
Et forces d'advouer ta divine structure. 
Sans pouvoir conceyoir le secret de Tauteur, 
lis publient que ^homme n*en est p<u VinvenUur"* 

Unfortunately, the superiority of ''the incomparable bootmaker'* 
gave umbrage to his confrSres, and envy, base and wicked, intervened 
at the moment of his triumph. He was warned that all the shoe- 
makers of Paris had conspired to encompass his ruin, and he was 
urged to depart. The worthy Gascon returned with prudence to 
Bordeaux. Here, however, hatred and spite had been at work, and 
Lestage found that '' no man is a prophet in his own country." There 
were those who, unable to comprehend his secret, did not hestitate to say 
that the shoemaker of Bordeaux was most certainly a sorcerer. We 
believe there has been no revival of this wonderful boot since 5 and 
we can only judge of it, therefore, by the reputation which it gained 
for its inventor. Amongst the flatteries bestowed on him it was 
foretold that the people would always speak of his design, and that 
"le nom d'une botte remplira 1' uuivers *' (the name of a boot will fill 
the universe). He is termed the favoured of the king, a royal master, 

* The great master Lestage takes the lead of his competitors completely. They 
meet together, and unitedly endeayour to fathom bis skill, to discoyer his art. A 
hundred times they examine his boot without seam, and, compelled to ayow its divine 
structure, without being able to discoyer the secret of the maker, they declare that 
Toan it not id irmnior. 



(52 

a divin esprit far above SS. Crispin and Crispianus, and the language 
of eulogy goes still further^ declaring that '^ jamais n*ont fait un* chef*- 
d'oBUvre si rare " (never had there been a master-piece so rare). The 
portrait of Lestage appeared in the gallery of the king, with these 
lines appended ;*^ 

" Celuy dont tu toU le portrait 
Ett le miracle de son dge : 
Apr^s les bottes qu*il t^faii 
L'esprit et I'art no peayent dayantage."t 

Lestage's name was imperfectly anagrammatized into "en cela sag* il 
est" (in that he is wise). He maintained a good position, having the royal 
family and the court for his clientele. After the boot without seam he 
invented for the dauphin a new kind of shoe, which was also cele- 
brated in verse. He died at a ripe age. The engraving of Parisian 
shoemakers, which forms one of the illustrations of this work, belongs 
to this date, viz., the 17th century. 

With the revolution of 1688, the high, stiff jack-boot was imported 
into the English fashions of foot-gear — 2l thorough Dutch stiffness 
being its chief characteristic. Wooden shoes had somehow or other, 
by their association with slavery and Popery been a slight element in 
the expulsion of Janlbs II., and the Prince of Orange was said to have 
saved the country from the Pope and wooden shoes. In the reign of 
Queen Anne they were the occasion of a large amount of excitement 
which very nearly cost Walpole the Premiership. A rumour had got 
abroad that Walpole meant to tax the food and clothing of the people 
and the popular cry was "No .slavery! No excise! No wooden 
shoes ! *' A tax on leather shoes had obliged the working classes to 
wear the detested wooden shoes. How far public feeling was aroused 
on the point may be judged by Pope's allusion to it in his " Prologue 
to a play for Mr. Dennis' benefit in 1773, when he was old, blind and 
in great distress : " — 

** If there's a Briton, then, true-bred and born, 
Who holds dragoons and wooden shoes in scorn, 
Let bim to-night his just assistance lend." 

And Mrs. Centlivre, anathematizing the Jacobites, urges the people 

to— 

" Disdain the artifices they use 
To bring in mass and wooden shoes, 
V7ith transubstantiation." 



+ He of whom thou see'st the portrait is the miracle of his age : after the boot 
he made, mind and art could no further go. 



63 

Buckles, too, came into fashion, the boot being fastened by means 
of a leather strap passing through the buckle. Sometimes a small 
stiffened tie was added to the buckle by way of ornament. During 
the reigns of George I. and Greorge IL, the ladies wore boots consist- 
ing of an upper of embroidered silk, with a thin sole and an enormous 
heel. The first cut of fig. 32 is an example of this. Ladies' shoes (i^^.32. 
of that period were frequently adorned with embroidery and orna- 
mental threads and bindings. The embroidery was sometimes floral 
in design, and exquisitely worked. The fashionables generally wore 
high red heels, with buckles of an enormous size, so large that 
Sheridan in one of his comedies, jocularly doubts whether the shoe 
was made for the buckle, or the buckle for the shoe. Towards the 
close of the i8th century, buckles became richly ornamented, some- 
times with real jewels. Those who could not afford the reality 
procured as good an imitation as possible in paste. ^' Monsieur-a-la 
Mode," a satiric poem, describes a dandy of the time as wearing — 

*' A pair of smart pumps made up of grained leather 
So thin, he can't venture to tread on a feather ; 
His buckles, like diamonds, must glitter and shine, 
Should they cost fifty pounds they would not be too fine." 

In the progress of fashion the heel quarters were worn lower, the 
heels made less clumsy, and thrust farther under the foot. Ultimately 
the heels almost vanished, being made very flat and low, and then the 
vamp or front was cut very short. Shoe-strings again came into 
fashion but not without encountering a severe struggle for supremacy 
on the part of the buckles. The buckle manufacture had become a very 
important one employing many thousands of hands, chiefly at 
Birmingham, Walsall, and Wolverhampton j and this formed a 
** vested interest " which most strenuously resisted what was termed 
**the most ridiculous of ridiculous fashions, the effeminate shoe-string." 
In vain was the aid of '^ the first gentleman in Europe " and his royal 
brethren the Dukes of York and Clarence enlisted on behalf of the 
buckle. The shoe-strings triumphed. The commencement of the 
present century found amateur shoemaking quite a passion amongst 
the ladies. There was, says one writer, ''hardly a parlour in the 
kingdom which was not turned into a sutrina, nor a lady*s work-table 
that was not covered with hypodematical instruments, vulgo, shoe- 
maker's tools 3 and uncommon indeed was the sight of the fair foot 
that was not booted or shod by an amateur hand." This, however, 
was a mere passing fancy and the trade was again left to the industry 
and ingenuity of ''the gentle craft.** The following lines written by 



«4 

S. Waters, of Cranbrook, Kent, in 1811, are of historic interest in 
coonection with this singular " whim : '*^— 

•n ftaHfeK Rafting t^dt obin %%nt%. 

Ho I ho t— HK> the Ladies of late, I hear say. 

Have a wonderful saorifioe made ; 
Tambour and Embroid'ery they have put away. 

And embraced the shoe-making trade. 

Their delicate hands, and their fingers so small, 

Unus'd to hard labour, become 
Unreluctant to handle the poor Cobbler's Awl, 

And to work with the Hammer and Stone. 

Poor Crispin, I fear they will now ruin thee 

By taking thy business away ; 
Tet pluck up thy spirits, some reason I see. 

That it's only— The Whim of the Day. 

Such wonders are frequently coming to pass. 

Yet each of them last but a time ; 
A little while since and each rode her own Ass, 

With a footman to whip it behind. 

What wonderful thing, may next rise with the fair. 

It is not for me now to speak ; 
But sure, need we wonder, in short time to hear. 

That they're learnt their own chimneys to sweep. 

In the early part of the present century the Hessian Boot, (a 
favourite with the first Napoleon), together with the Wellington and 
Blucher boots, names given in honour of those two great military 
leaders were the most notable boots worn. The most famous boot 
subsequent to these was the elastic spring-side, the invention we 
believe of Mr. Sparkes Hall, and one which has become a universal 
favourite. 

We have thus far conducted our readers through the principal 
changes of the eventful past in respect to the comparatively unim- 
portant yet not, we would hope, uninteresting or uninstructive details 
of feet costume. The craft has now lost much of its old character 
in new methods of work 5 and the manufacture of boots and 
shoes by machinery has become one of the miracles of the age. 
''Ye gentle craft'* with its poetic quaint ness is translated in these 
more prosaic times into '*the boot and shoe trade*' which now 
employs its hundreds of thousands of hands, there being, according 
to the last census no fewer than 252,000 persons engaged in this 
important branch of commerce in Great Britain alone. Our object, 
however, has been only to review the past, leaving the present to 
speak for itself. 



We have referred to the old guilds or corporations of shoemakers. 
By such bodies St. Crispin's day has been kept till within a recent 
date with some of the pomp and joviality of olden times. One of the 
best authorities of the craft says: — ''The custom was (and that 
which was considered its glory had not at the beginning of the present 
century departed), for the guild to meet at their club-house at a given 
time 5 caste was laid aside, and fraternity and equality for the time 
prevailed 3 the officers of the guild, arrayed in their regalia, their chief 
officer or president dressed in his regal robes and chaired as their king* 
all the brotherhood in file, with a band of music at their head, they 
perambulated the streets of the town, with hundreds of spectators in 
their wake. Having gone their appointed round, they again assem- 
bled at the rendezvous of the craft where they banqueted on roast 
beef and other sumptuous fare, until with many of them over-burdened 
nature could bear no more — they fell into the arms of Bacchus.'* It 
has passed into the region of proverb — 

" On the twenty-fifth October 
Ne'er a Souter's sober." 

The mode in which St. Crispin's day used to be generally kept (and in 
which it is still kept in sadly too many individual instances), is admirably 
t3rpified in the following witty eclogue on ** St, Crispin's Day," which 
might have been written as the descriptive letter-press for Cruikshank*8 
well-known picture bearing that name (and which we give as a 
frontispiece) : — 

COBDWAIltfiBinS. 

Arise, Cobblerids, cast thy awl away, 
The sun is np, and 'tis Saint Cbisfin's DaT. 
Leave yulgar snobs to mend plebeian soles. 
For you and I will jollify, by goles I 

Ck>BBLERTnS. 

A seedy poet, lodging next the sky, 
Came yesternight, entreating me to try 
And mend his understandimg by the noon ; 
When that is done, I'm your*s for a blue moon. 

COBDWAINERIUS. 

Then while you cobble, let us chaunt a stave : 
We're " Temp'rance " folks, so let the theme be grave. 
Let's sing yon palace to the God of Gin : 
Who pipes the best, a pot of malt shall win. 

COBBLEBIUS. 

1 take your challenge— to your plan agree ; 
Yon Costermonger shall our umpire be. 

COSTEBMONGEBIUS. 

I'm bottle-holder for a glass of max ; 

So dear your pipes, my jolly cocka o' Tax» 



66 

COBDWAIKJUiinS. 
*' H«re, tprightly folks, by spiriU turned to sprites, 
Whose rosy obeeks are ohang'd to lily whites, 
Caaght in the snaj^es of Oin, me not their ruin. 
But do their best, to do their own undoing ! 
COBBLBBIUS. 

"Rum customers, who are far more sad than funny. 
Here get no trust when they have spent their money : 
No pay no potion ;— by this rule they stick ; 
The lighted dial, only goes on itch 

CORDWAINERIUS. 

" Here, Mothers, by some deyilish fiend possest. 
Drive their poor infants from the port of Breast ; 
And 'stead of mother's milk, whene'er they scream. 
Stop their shrill crying with a glass of a'eam, 

COBBLERIUS. 

'* Bere compounds dire, which ne*er can cordials be. 
Turn seedy fellows inio/elos de w."— 

COSTERHONGERIUS. 

Just stow your magging, for you've piped enough. 
And, blow me, if I ever heard such stuff ! 
Vy, vhat's the hods. 111 be so bold to ax, 
'Twixt swilling heavy vet, and swigging max? 
So stow your staves, and as it's chilly veather, 
Ve'll mix the max and heavy vet together : 
And then, my lads o' leather, you shall see 
How cosily the mixture vill agree. 

Who can forget the picture — glowing with a vivid reality — of ''Souter 
Johnnie " (the original of whom was John Lauchlin, an intelligent 
and facetious shoemaker of Ayr, who was one of Burns* cronies), in 
"Tamo' Shanter?"— 

" But to our tale : — Ae winter night, 

Tam had got planted unco right ; 

Fast by an ingle, bleezing finely, 

Wi' reamin swats, that drink divinely ; 

And at his elbow, souter Johnnie, 

This ancient, trusty, droughty cronie ; 

Tam lo'ed him like a vera brither, 

They bad been f ou for weeks thegither. 

The night drave on wi' sangs an' clatter ; 

And aye the ale'was growing better : 

The souter tauld his queerist stories ; 

The landlord's laugh was ready chorus : 

The storm without might rair and rustle, 

Tam did na mind the storm a whistle.* 

The members of "the gentle craft" have generally been credited 
with tolerable powers of imbibation, and their patron saint has formed 



* Apropos of the Scotch "sutors," the following eftract from Notes and Queries, 
(Feb. 2l8t, 1874), is worth repeating :— " Ne Sutor, &c. The principal manufacture of 
shoes in Scotland is at Selkirk, and the shoes there are made by the "sutors," a 
namo still given to the burgesses, who qualify themselves by licking the "birse," A 
brush of hogs' bristles, which is passed fronj mputb to mouth," 



<57 

the subject for more than one public-house sign. There is a Crispin 
Street, too, in Northampton, opposite to which is the Crispin public- 
house, and at the corner is another house of refreshment much 
patronised by shoemakers, under the sign of '*The Gate,*' which 
bears the choice inscription — 

*' This gate hangs ivell and hinders none— 
Refresh and pay and trarel on." 

Some wicked wag has suggested that the patrons of "The Gate'* 
often, in practice, translate the last line into 

"fie fresh and pay, and still stop on." 

The motto finds its Crispinian counterpart in a shop in Pentonville, 
where recently there was the sign of a boot with the doggrel : — 

''This boot hangs high 
And hinders none. 
Step in and buy, 
Then travel on." 

Though it may be thought that many of the sons of St. Crispin 
entertain an extravagant fondness for a "yard of , clay j** or, to use 
an expression of a member of the craft, lay themselves open to the 
suspicion that *' too oft they irrigate their clay," no class of artizans 
has given to the world more famous men — men who have more 
conclusively proved the truth of Pope's couplet : — 

"Honour and shame from no condition rise, — 
Act well your part, there all the honour lies." 

Somehow or other the trade of a shoemaker has been looked down 
upon with some degree of contempt. Why, it is difficult to under- 
stand. The old proverb, " there are no foolish trades, there are only 
foolish people,*' has been forgotten. It is as Rene, of Anjou, called it 
in his '* Octroi Statutes,** so long ago as the 15th century, " ung des 
necessaires mestiers pour servir a toutes mani6res de gens " (one of the 
necessary trades for the benefit of all manner of people). If it were so 
essential then, how much more necessary is it now, when the work of 
the craft is "trodden under foot by the whole world.** Sometimes, it is 
true, one may be inclined to adopt Voiture's derivation of the word 
cordonnier (shoemaker), namely, that it comes from the word cor- 
donneur (corn giver), as the work of the craft — whether through the 
fault of the men or the vanity of the public we do not care to enquire — 
has led to the multiplication of corns on the feet. * Nevertheless, 

* Shoemakers in England are legally termed cordwabws or cordovanners, from 
the Spanish town and proyince of Cordova, from whence the leather known as 
Cordovan was brought. That the French term cordonnier is derived from the same 
circumstance is probable, although it is not less likely to have been derived from 
cordon (cord, pull, etc.)i the cordonnier being a cord-puller. 

K 2 



68 

people generally will be prepared to endorse the dictum of the im- 
mortal Newton, who said " I would prefer a cobbler to a bad poet or 
a bad comedian ; he is more useful to society." The sturdy William 
Cobbett, who, whatever his failings may have been, had a keen 
perception of character, said *' the trade of a shoemaker numbers more 
men of sense and public spirit than any other in the kingdom.'* And 
James Lackington, the famous bookseller, who began life upon the 
shoemaker's seat, wrote — 

** Ck>bblers from Crispin boast their public spirit. 
And all are upright, downright men of merit." 

Whilst another admirer of the craft observes " the fact is notorious 
that more mind has been manifested among the humble fraternity 
of shoemakers than has been found amongst any other equally humble 
class of the community." Amongst them have been men of taste, 
learning, and wit, poets and dramatists, painters, patriots, philosophers 
and philanthropists.^ Many illustrations might be given of their sense, 
their learning, their taste, or their wit. 

Watt Tinlinn, better known as " Souter Watt," was an ancient 

Scotch Crispin, whose name has received additional lustre from the 

pen of Sir Walter Scott, who, in his Lay of the Last Minstrel, writes : — 

''Watt Tintinn, from the Liddel-side, 

Gomes wading through the flood. 
Full oft the Tynedole snatchers knock 
At his lone gate, and prove the lock ; 
It was but last St. Bamabright 
They seiged him a whole summer night. 
But fled at morning ; well they knew, 
In vain he never twanged the yew." 

" This person," says Sir Walter, ''was in my younger dajrs, the 
theme of many a fireside tale. He was a retainer of the Buccleuch 
family, and held for his Border service a small tower on the frontiers 
of Liddisdale. Watt was, by profession, a sutor, but, by inclination 
and practice, an archer and warrior, Upon one occasian, the Captain 
of Bewcastle, military governor of that wild district of Cumberland, 
is said to have made an incursion into Scotland, in which he was 
defeated and forced to fly. Watt Tinlinn pursued him closely through 
a dangerous morass : the captain, however, gained the firm ground, 
and seeing Tinlinn dismounted, and floundering in the bog, used these 
words of insult : ' Sutor Watt, ye cannot sew your boots : the heels 
rispy [creak], and the seams rive.' — 'If I cannot sew,' retorted 

* Most of our readers, we imagine, will be surprised to learn that "the Wander- 
ing Jew," that unhappy Israelite "who lived when our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 
was crucified," and was "appointed by Him to live until His coming again," a 
weary wanderer in the earth, was, according to early Ballads, a shoemaker of 
Jervusalem. 



69 

TiDlinn, discharging a shaft which nailed the captain's thigh to 
his saddle, — ' If I cannot sew, I can yerk,' Meaning to twitch, as 
shoemakers do, in securing the stitches of their work." Watt's 
humour was exceedingly " dry/* and doubtless his English antagonist 
felt that it was beyond a joke. 

The late Dr. Monsey used to tell an amusing anecdote of the ready 
wit of a London shoemaker, named Walkden. He was with the 
Duke of Leeds and his grace's chaplain in the library, when Mr. 
Walkden, of Pall Mall, his grace's shoemaker, came in with a pair of 
new shoes for the Duke. Having handed them to the nobleman for 
his inspection, the chaplain took one up and examined it with critical 
attention. " What is the price ?" asked the chaplain. " Half a guinea 
sir," said the shoemaker, for money was more valuable then than it is 
now. *' Half-a-guinea ! what for a pair of shoes ?" exclaimed the 
chaplin. " Why I could go to Cranbourne Alley and buy a better 
pair of shoes than they ever were or will be for five and sixpence." 
Upon which he threw the shoe to the other end of the room. Walk- 
den threw the other after it, saying that as they were fellows they ought 
to go together, but adding by way of postcript, " Sir, I can go to a stall 
in Moorfields and buy a better sermon for twopence than my lord 
gives you a guinea for." The Duke clapped Walkden on the shoulder 
and said ''That is a most excellent retort, Walkden ^ make me half-a- 
dozen pairs of shoes directly." A good story is told of Richard 
Brinsley Sheridan's treatment at Stafford, (Northampton's rival in the 
manufacture of boots and shoes.) It was at a public dinner at Stafford, 
during the period he represented that place, that Sheridan gave his 
famous toast " may the staple trade of Stafford be trodden underfoot 
by the whole world." In 1812 the "worthy at^d independent" 
electors of that borough threw him out, and the following is one of 
the lampoons "On a certain gentleman's discomfiture at Stafford:" — 

" Sherry to Stafford lately hied ;— 
Stafford, the great St. Crispin's pride : 
He smooth'd his face, he went unshod ; — 
He swore no shoes like theirs' e'er trod, — 
He had the Regent's dread commands. 
Shoes should be worn on feet and handi I 
The Court had thought the fashion meet, 
That men should walk on hands and/(?«< / 
* Give me your votes ; — I'll do such things, 
I'll make you g^eat as little kings ! ' 

Crispin, who erst did Britons shield, 
On Agincourt's most glorious field, 
Look'd from a cloud in fierce disdain. 
And sent him back to Court again." 

A happy retort was on one occasion given to a clerical adviser by 
Chas. Crocker, the shoemaker poet of Chichester, (born 1797, died 



7<5 

1861.) His writings had gained considerable local celebrity, and the 
Rev. E. Cornwall, himself engaged in literary pursuits, thought fit to 
publish the following rhymed advice in a Sussex newspaper : — 

" Crocker, if you can but repair our shoes, 
Half as well onlj as yoa court the muse ; 
Tour Hues indeed may fail of gaining riches ; 
But penury shall flee before your stitches." 

But Crocker in the next issue of the same paper epigram matically 

replied — 

"To THE Rev. E. Cornwall. 

Alike our fates, kind sir, and why t 
We both have wooed the muse. 
And while you ' cure * the souls of men 
I ' mend ' the soles of shoes." 

It is asserted that Archbishop Whateley once offered sSs for an 
answer to the following question of a shoemaker : 

" When from the Ark's capacious round 
The world came forth in pairs, 
Who was it that first heard the sound 
Of Boots upon the stairs ?" 

The punning solution to this problem appears to have been this — 

" To him who cons the matter o'er, 
A little thought reveals, — 
He heard it first who went before 
Two pairs of soles and eels." 

The fun of the pun will be appreciated, though its theology may not 
be accepted without further investigation. 

According to Hone's Table Book, a custom called " beating the 
lapstone " used to be observed the day after Christmas, at Nettleton, 
near Burton. The shoemakers " beat the lapstone " at the doors of 
all water-drinkers, out of rollicking compliment to a neighbour who 
had not tasted malt liquor for twenty years, having been made tipsy by 
drinking only half-a-pint of ale at his shoemaker's at Christmas. 
When he got home he tottered into his house, forcing the exclamation 
from his wife "John, where have you been? — why, you are in liquor?" 
" No, I am not " hiccuped the inebriate, " I've only fell over the 
lapstone, and that has beaten my leg, so as I can't walk quite right." 
Hence the practical joke just mentioned. 

There is good sense if not wit in the following lines which are said 
still to adorn the sign board of a shoemaker's cottage at Elstow, near 

Bedford— 

" Here Ufcs a man who won't refuse 
To make and mend both boots and shoes ; 
His leather's good, his work is just, 
ms profit's small, and cannotirust." 



The same inscription might have been recently seen in a shoemaker's 
window at Roehampton. Here is an example of poetic delicacy and 
taste in a Brussels shoemaker, of the name of Fremol6e, taken from 
a volume of poems (entitled '^ Loisirs d'un Artisan ") published by 
him in 1823 : — 

TO THE Countess of , On sending a Pair of white satin Shoes. 

"Insensible chaussure, indigne d'un beau sort^ 

Eph^mere omement qu' un rien fletrit efc change, 
Celle qui tous attend ra yous donner la mort ; 
Mais TOUS aurez yecu pour les plaisirs d' un ange." 

" Insensate slipper ! how unmeet for thy fair destiny ; 
Ephemeral gaud ! such trifles may deform or blemish thee ; 
Yet since her foot, which waits thee now, thy beauty shall destroy ; 
Still thou — proud existence ! wilt hare given an angel joy. 

Our friends of the craft have not always been so happy. A classical 
cobbler, for the purpose of eclipsing an opponent who lived opposite, 
placed over his door the well-known motto — Mens conscia recti (a 
mind conscious of rectitude). His adversary, not to be out-done in 
bidding for public favour at once cobbled the quotation by putting 
over his door '' Men's and women's conscia recti.** 

Sir Robert Peel, on the occasion of meeting a deputation from 
certain trade societies, who had chosen two journeyman shoemakers 
for their spokesmen, smilingly asked — "How is it that you shoe- 
makers are ever foremost in every movement ? If there is a plot, or 
conspiracy, or insurrection, or political movement I always find there's 
a shoemaker in the fray." Taken broadly this was really an indirect 
compliment to the capacity and independence of thought and action 
of the members of the craft. Nor was it a groundless compliment, 
as we have already indicated. The bead-roll of fame contains the 
names of many men " who once bent over the last and wielded the 
awl,** but who have in other ways adorned the calling to which they 
belonged. Amongst artists are the names of Francesco Brizio, the 
disciple of Lodovico Caracci^ Gabrielle Capellini, surnamed "II 
Caligarino,*' the scholar and friend of Dosso Dossi j and old Ludolph 
de Jongh of Rotterdam. From Germany we have Hans Sach, (born 
1494, died 1576) "the cobler of Nuremberg j'* and Jacob Boehmen, 
(born 1575, died 1624) one of the best known philosophers of the 
mystical school. Hans Sach was the poet of the Reformation, aiding 
V Luther by versifying the Bible and making it popular and familiar to 
the poorest. According to Hallam, Sach, although he did not quit 
the last till his death, wrote ^^ sacred and 78 profane dramas, 64 
farces, 59 fables, etc 5 whilst another authority says this gifted shoe- 
maker wrote no less than 6000 poems. The fertility of bis imaginatiou 



7i 

is onlj comparable with that of the great Spanish dramatist Lope de 
Vega, who it is said wrote looo plays. (Joethe wrote o£ him : 

" He felt a little world confined within his brain. 
Which he wished to describe to others again, — 
His eye was a guide most faithful and true ; 
His language a magic enchanting each heart. 
The muses, rejoiced such a spectacle to see, 
Exclaimed : " Hans Sach our minstrel must be." 

The work which Hans Sach did for Luther may, in a great 
measure, be likened to that which Piers, the ploughman, rendered to 
Wicliffe, by his satirical verses, in the early dawn of the Reformation 
in England. Of Boehmen, who has been designated '' the alchymist- 
ical, theological, and astrological shoemaker of Gorlitz," (the place of 
his birth) Thomas Cooper, an eminent English shoemaker, has 
expressed the opinion that it will eventually be seen that he was less 
of a mystic and more of a true philosopher than has generally been 
supposed. A book of Boehmen's entitled " The three principles," it 
has been asserted, suggested to Sir Isaac Newton his ideas of attraction 
and gravitation. Two eminent English sailors sprung from the 
craft. Admiral Sir Christopher Mingh, or Minus, who was killed in 
the famous sea-fight of the 4th June, 1666, was the son of an honest 
shoemaker in London ; but preferring a life of adventure to sticking 
to the last he entered the navy and rose to the rank of admiral. 
Having taken a Spanish man-of-war in one of his cruises, the com- 
mander of the vessel was brought on board his ship. The Spaniard 
was deploring his captivity and wondering what great captain had 

taken Don , with a string of titles, prisoner. The lieutenant 

who had charge of him having informed the admiral of this, he told 
him, if the Spanish captain was still curious to learn who was his 
captor, to tell him that Kit Minns had taken him. The idea of being 
captured by a person so utterly devoid of title threw the Castilian 
pride of the Spaniard into a fever, and his mental agony was most 
acute. Sir Cloudesley Shovel, (born 16 jo, died 1707) a brave 
English admiral, was too, the son of a shoemaker. Hewson, one of 
Cromwell's colonels, who signed the death-warrant of Charles I., was 
a shoemaker 3 whilst the original occupation of "Praise-God Bare* 
bones," whose name is associated with one of the Protector's 
Parliaments, is very sufficiently indicated in the phrase that has been 
applied to him — ''a reverend unlearned leather-seller." Taking a leap 
of more than a couple of centuries we have amongst notable soldiers^ 
General Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States, whose 
father was a tanner, and whose chief laurels were gained during the 
yet recent Civil War in the States 5 and General Neal Dow, son of a 
tanner, and himself a tanner, one of the volunteer soldiers of the 



7i 

North during that lamentable struggle, and a long and valued advocate 
of the Temperance movement as developed in the Maine Law. 
But it is in the quieter walks of general literature, or in social, 
religious, or political thought and action that shoemakers have been 
most eminent. George Fox, (bom at Drayton, Leicestershire 1624, 
died 1681) the pious founder of the Quakers, was brought up as a 
shoemaker and followed his trade for a time at Nottingham. None 
can help admiring the persistent earnestness with which he laboured 
in the work of religious reform. A far different type of man was 
John Partridge, (born 1644, died 1704) the astrologer and almanack 
maker of Mortlake. Dean Swift was severely satirical at his expense. 
Ridiculing his astrological predictions, the witty Dean wrote of him 
" 1 have consulted the star of his nativity by my own rules and find 
he will infallibly die on the 29th March next, about eleven at night of 
a raging fever ', therefore I advise him to consider of it and settle his 
afl&irs in time." He also wrote the following epitaph for Partridge : — 

"Here five feet deep, lies on his back, 
A cobbler, star-monger and qnook ; 
Who, to the stars, in pure good-will 
Does, to his best, look upward still. 
Weep, all ye customers, that use 
His pills, his almanacs, or shoes ; 
And you that did your fortune seek, 
Step to his grave but once a week ; 
This earth which bears his body's print, 
Youll find has so much virtue in't. 
That I durst pawn mj ears t'will tell 
Whatever concerns you full as well. 
In physic, stolen goods, or love, 
As he himself could when above." 

A noble fellow and disinterested patriot was Timothy Bennett, the 
shoemaker of Hampton Wick, (born 1676, died 1756) famed for his 
favourite saying that he was " unwilling to leave the world worse than 
he found it,** and the way in which he realized his desire. Timothy 
had saved aSjoo but was willing to embark it all in regaining for the 
public a right of way through Bushey Park, which had been closed to 
them. Lord Halifax (tlie friend of Pope) was Ranker of the Park, 
and on learning the shoemaker's intentions sent for him. " Who are 
you, sir," said his lordship "that have the assurance to meddle in this 
aflfair ?'* " My name, my lord,*' said he " is Timothy Bennett, shoe- 
maker of Hampton- Wick. T remember, an*t please your lordship, 
when I was a young man, of seeing, while sitting at my work, the 
people cheerfully pass by to Kingston iharket j but now, my lord, 
they are forced to go round about, through a hot sandy road, ready to 
faint beneath their burdens, and I am unwilling (it was his favourite 

h 



74 

expression) to leave tbe world worse thea I found it. This, my lord, 
I humbly represent, is the reason of my conduct." '^ Begone, you are 
an impertinent fellow !" replied his lordship. However, upon noore 
mature reflection, being convinced of tbe equity of the claim, and 
anticipating the ignominy of defeat — " Lord Halifax the nobleman, 
nonsuited by Timothy Bennett, the shoemaker** — ^he desisted from 
his opposition, aud opened tbe road, which is enjoyed, without moles- 
tation, to til is day. 

The eighteenth century gave birth to quite a constellation of 
worthies connected with the crafit. The foundation of the success of 
James Lackington, (born 1740, died 18 15), the celebrated bookseller, 
was a combination of shoemaking with second-hand bookselling. 
He built " the Temple of tbe Muses," retired with a fortune, and 
bought an estate in Gloucestershire, where his respect for religion was 
manifested in the erection of a Wesleyan Chapel. He afterwards 
settled at Budleigh, near Salterton, Devon, where he built another 
Wesleyan Chapel at a cost of 5^2000, and where he resided till his 
death. Thomas Holcroft, (born 1745, died 1809) was a notable 
instance of indomitable energy triumphing over apparently insur- 
mountable difficulties. His parentage wa$ ignoble ; his early life 
particularly was steeped in the direst powrty and hopelessness j and 
yet the soul of the man rose superior to circumstances and lifted him 
into a creditable place amongst the brain-workers of his time. He 
was a jockey at Newmarket, a master shoemaker, a schoolmaster, 
again a shoemaker, a political writer and debater, and though last, not 
least, a dramatist, novelist, and poet. He was one of the most fertile 
of playwrights. He belonged to the band of politicians of which 
Home Tooke, Thomas Hardy, and Thelwall were the leading spirits, 
and this was no advantage to his worldly prospects. " The life, of 
Baron Trengk" is one of his better known works in general subjects, 
and *'the Road to Ruin " is reckoned his best play. Thomas Hardy, 
(born 1 75 1, died 1832) who has just been mentioned, was. also a 
disciple of St. Crispin, and was chiefly known as a political reformer, 
being concerned in the establishment in 1792' of a society for the 
promotion of Radical reform in the House of Commons. For the 
part he took in the political movements of the time he was imprisoned, 
but after six months spent in prison awaiting his trial he was acquitted, 
together with Tooke and Thelwall. One of the brightest ornaments 
of the craft however was William Giiferd, (born 175J, died 1826) 
editor of the Quarterly, rightly termed "the trenchant Giffbrd.*' 
His career was a splendid victory over untoward circumstances. His 
Scholarly acquirements, his discerning; judgment, and his sterling 



75^ 

integrity won for him a positiortof honmir uv\d influence unequalled 
in his own time. As editor, critic, satirist, he was alike famed. Even 
Byron bowed to the judgment of " this same shoemaker," and is said 
to have submitted to him the manuscripts of some of his writings 
before publication. The noble po^t in his ** English Bards and Scotch 
Reviewers" paid a high and deserved compliment to Gifford in the 
lines : — 

t( t ^jjy slumbers GifFord ?' ouce was asked in vain ; 
Why slumbers Gifford ? let me ask again. 
Are there no follies for his pen to purge ? 
Are there no fools whose books deserve the scourge? 
Are there no sins for satire's bard to greet ? 
Stalks not gigantic vice in every street ? 
Shall peers or princes tread pollution's path. 
And 'soape alike the law's /and tuuse's wratli ? 
Nor blaze with guilty glare through future time. 
Eternal beacons of consummate crime ? 
Arouse thee, Gifford I be thy province claimed, 
Make bad men bettor, or at least ashamed." 

First amongst modern missionaries, and one of the most noted 
linguists, stands Dr. Carey, derisively designated "the consecrated 
cobbler.** Born at Paulerspury, (Northamptonshire) on August the 
i8th, 1761, and living for a considerable period at Moulton, near 
Northampton, Carey's name shines with peculiar lustre in his native 
county. Sent out as a missionary to India in 1793, by the Baptist 
Missionary Society, founded at the. little town of Kettering, and 
then in its infancy, he being its first messenger to the heathen, he 
devoted himself with assiduity to the study of the native languages. He 
became an excellent Oriental scholar and translated the Bible not only 
into Hindustani but into Sanscrit j and in other ways afforded facilities 
for intercourse with the inhabitants of India. He lived a life of useful- 
ness and honour in the land of his adoption, and paved the way for 
that influx of missionary effort whjch has since been doing so large a 
part in moulding the destinies of our Indian Empire. It was no idle 
compliment which the great emancipator, William Wilberfwce, 
uttered, when many years after Carey's entrance on missionary labour 
he said in the House of Commons, whilst urging Parliament to grant 
missionaries free access to India — "a sublimer thought cannot be 
conceived than when a poor cobbler formed the resolution to give to 
the millions of Hindoos the Bible in their own language." Carey 
taught the great principle in missionary labour " expect great things, 
attempt great things," and he practised what he preached. He died 
on July 9th, 1834 ; and, to quote the language of an American 
missionary, ''his name will be remembered to the latest generations." 

L 2 



76 

It is related of the venerable missioiiary that in the days of his pros- 
perity he was dining with the governor-general. Lord Hastings, at 
Barrackpore, when a general officer impertinently enquired of an aide- 
de-camp, loud enough for other guests to hear, whether Dr. Carey 
had not once been a shoemaker. The doctor quietly interposed, to 
the confusion of the inquirer, " No, sir, only a cobbler ! " * He was 
not ashamed of his origin, unlike Jean Baptiste Rousseau, (bom 1669^ 
died 1741) the illustrious French poet, who was the son of a respect- 
able Parisian shoemaker. Rousseau's father had given him the advanta- 
ges of an education far above his condition, and the overweening pride 
of the poet shrank with shame from his origin becoming known. His 
enemies knew his weak point and took advantage of every opportunity 
to oftend his over-sensitive amour-propre , by reminding him whence 
he sprang. It was in vain that La Motte, himself the son of a hatter, 
endeavoured to console him by suggesting : — 

*< Ta TM pour la nee fatuni 
Anoblir t* famille obaoure ! " 

As an instance of this contemptible vanity we are told that on the 
conclusion of the first representation of his comedy, "The Flatterer," 
which had achieved a certain success, the poet*s father, naturally proud 
of his son's abilities, ran to his box to embrace him, after the effusive 
fashion of the French, and to ofler him his congratulations. '' I know 
you not,*' coldly replied Rousseau, repulsing him ; and the unfortunate 
father retired in the most poignant grief and the deepest indignation. 
The son of a shoemaker is not always a prince born, in mind any 
more than in blood Four years after the birth of Carey, was born 
(1765) at St. Anstell, Cornwall, Samuel Drew, who in the prime 
of life achieved distinction as a profound metaphysician. Whilst 
bending over the last, his head was busily employed in deep cogi- 
tation upon the most abstruse metaphysical problems. His thoughts 
were directed to such good purpose that they eventually took shape 
in his celebrated essay on " The Immortality and Immateriality of 
the Soul." A subsequent essay on the ''Being and Attributes of 
God** procured for him the degree of Master of Arts from the 
University of Aberdeen and in 1819 he was appointed Editor of 
the Imperial Magazine, an appointment he held till his death in 
1833. Only two years before his death the Council of the London 
University solicited him to allow his name to be put in nomination 
lOr the chair of Moral Philosophy in the University, but this honour 

* Dr. Carey's Sign-board, written by himself, is at present in the Museum of 
Regent's Park (Baptist) College. 



11 

be declined. Amongst the worthies of the crafty one of the most 
eccentric was Thomas Shillitoe, (born 17^4^ died 1836) a Quaker 
of severe conscientiousness, and of persistent zeal. He commenced 
life by assisting his father at the bar of a public-house in Islington. 
Then he became a grocer*s assistant. But he had set his heart on 
becoming a righteous man in the highest religious sense of the 
term, and in his former occupations his sensitive conscience had 
been sorely tried by the worldliness and gaiety with which he had 
been brought in contact. Consequently when a situation as banker's 
clerk was obtained for him he fancied he had secured an Eden where 
nothing could offend. A little experience quickly deceived him. He 
found the clerks in a Bank were quite as gay and worldly as other 
people 3 and in spite of the earnest dissuasions of his friends he deter- 
mined to resign his situation^ and to set himself to some handi- 
craft which he could pursue in solitude and meditate upon heavenly 
things. He became a shoemaker, thrived spiritually and materially, 
and came to be known as a benevolent enthusiast ever ready to engage 
in the cause of the poor and afflicted. He was remarkably persevering 
in the zeal with which he approached royal and other personages in 
high life to converse with them on matters pertaining to their religious 
well-being. The craft has bred poets innumerable of more or less 
excellence, more or less inspired with " the divine afflatus." Promi- 
nent amongst them appears the name of Robert Bloomfield, (born 
1766, died at ShefTord, Beds, 1823)— a man of whom the craft may 
well be proud. He was born and reared in poverty, but has never- 
theless left, in his "native woodnotes wild," a rich l^cy of poetic 
sweetness to all lovers of nature, and to the poverty-stricken strugglers 
in the battle of life. He commenced life as a Suffolk plough-boy, 
but afterwards removed to London, where, under the tuition of a 
brother, he learnt the art of shoeraakiug. It was in the stifling 
atmosphere of a London attic he wrote "The Farmer's Boy,** so 
redolent of the sweet scents and sounds of rural life, Generously 
assisted by Capd Loffl, a well-known litterateur , and Thomas Hill, 
an honest-hearted drysalter, he was lifted from obscurity into fame. 
The poet was patronised by the Duke of Grafton who settled upon 
him a small pension, and what was better, obtained for him an ap- 
pointment in the Seal Office, which, unfortunately, Bloomfield was 
obliged to resign through failing health. He obtained an excellent 
reputation as a ladies* shoemaker — a circumstance which shows that 
the poetic fire does not necessarily lessen the cunning of the hand ) 
and also gained both repute and profit by the manufacture of ^olian 
lyres. He was not, however, witliout his detractors^ and Byron and 



/8 

Crabbe both sneered at the shoemaktng aspirant for poetic laurels- 
Bloomfield's brothers, George and Nathaniel, were also shoemakers 
and poets, and Byron ridiculed the trio in the lines — 

" Te tuneful cobblers still your notes prolong. 
Compose at once a slipper and a song ; 
So sbull tbe fair your handiwork peruse. 
Your sonnets sure sball please, perhaps your shoes." 

Nothwithstanding the ill-natured sneer of the scornful lord, we may 
accept the dictum of Mr. Disraeli, that the poems oi Robert Bloom- 
field will take their places amongst the classics of our land. Bloom - 
field*s life was far more noble than that of the noble lord who afiected 
to despise him, and was a splendid example of self-abnegation for .the 
good of others. The money that might have rendered his latter days 
free from the carking cares of poverty was expended in relieving tbe 
needs of his mother and a number of his poor relations. Bloomfield 
was truly one of nature's noblemen in heart as well as ia genius. 
Then there are James Woodhouse, (born 1739) who enjoyed the 
friendship of Sheustoue and who died at a ripe old age in the begin- 
ning of the present century 5 John Bennet, (born 1774) the parish 
clerk, shoemaker, and poet, of Woodstock, Oxon; John Strothers, 
(born 1776, died i8j3) a Lanarkshire poet and the devout author of 
"The Poor Man's Sabbath j" Charles Crocker, (born 1797, died 
1 861) the poetical shoemaker of Chichester, where he was honoured 
and respected J John Blackett, (born 1786, died 1810) "the son of 
sorrow," a youthful poet of promise, born at Tunstill in Yorkshire 5 
John Foster, a shoemaker poet of Winteringham, Lincolnshire, who 
published a volume of poems in 1 793 5 Edmund Gill a gifted but 
unfortunate youth, who was a shoemaker's apprentice at York, and 
who belongs to the closing years of the last century ; John O'Neil, . 
(born 1777) described as the laureate of the Temperance movement, 
having taken the pledge at the hands of the apostolic Father Matthew 5 
and John Younger, (born 1785, died i860) of St. Boswell's, Roxburgh- 
shire, author of a prize essay on " Temporal Advantages of the Sab- 
bath to the Working Classes," and one of the best books we possess 
on " River Angling and Fly-fishing." David Service, too, a Scotch 
poet, who, gathering inspiration it would seem from Allan Ramsay's 
" Gentle Shepherd," plied both awl and pen with equal facility, deserves 
mention. In 1806 he published a volume of autobiographical poems 
entitled " Tbe Wild Harp's Murmurs." He crossed the border and 
subsequently resided in Essex and in Suffolk, latterly taking up his 



79 

abode at Yarmouth. Service could write very respectable epigrams, 
of which the following are specimens — 

" Apollo, "why," a matron sigh'd, 
"Are poets all so poor ? " 
" They write for fame," Apollo cried, 
" And seldom ask for more.'* 

"A blessing great is poverty," 

Cried Sam, a well-fed, fat Divine ; 
"True" Dick replied "Sir, that maybe," 

But, oh ! let competence be mine." 

Nor must we omit mention of Gavin Wilson " an honest, merry 

fellow and a good boot, leather-leg, arm and hand maker, but as sorry 

a poetaster as ever tried a couplet.'* He styled himself "poet-laureate" 

to the St. David's Lodge of Freemasons, Edinburgh, and in 1788 he 

published some of his poetical compositions under the title of "A 

Collection of Masonic Songs and Entertaining Anecdotes for the 

Use of all the Lodges." In his preface to the courteous reader he 

pleads the importunity of his friends as his excuse for publishing 

them. He speaks in this contemptuous manner of his performance : 

" You are inquisitive no doubt. 
How this odd fancy comes about, 
That old unlettered leather toaster 
Should now commence a poetaster ; 
For to a more deserving name, 
His mean productions found no claim.*' 

A whimsical advertisement written by Gavin in 1793 is worth repro- 
duction, if only as a trade curiosity, whilst it will aliord some evidence 
of the nature of his poetic capabilities. It runs thus : — 

"G. Wilson, humbly, as before, 
Besumos his thankfulness once more 
For favours formerly eujoy'd 
In, by the publick, being employ'd. 
And hopes this public intimation 
Will meet with candid acceptation. 
The world knows well he makes hoots neatly. 
And, as times go, he sells them cheaply ; 
*Tis also known to many a hundred, 
Who at his late inventions wond'red, 
That polish'd leather -boxes , cases, 
So well known now in many places. 
With powder-Jlasls, and porter mugs, 
And jointed leather arms, and leys, 
Design'd for use as well as show, 
Exeriifili gratia, read below 
Were his invention ; and no claim 
Is just by any otlier name, 



8o 

With tminben of productions more. 
In leather, ne'er performed before* 
In these deftd times beinflf almost idle, 
fle try'd and made a leather fiddle. 
Of workmanship extremely neat. 
Of tune quite true, both soft and sweet, 
And, findinf? leather not a mate. 
He made a leather German fiule, 
Whioh play'd as well, and was as good. 
As any ever made of wood. 
" He, for an idle hour's amusement, 
' Wrote this exotic adyertisement. 
Informing you he does reside 
In head of Cannongate, South side. 
Up the first wooden-railed stair, 
You 're sure to find bis Whimship there. 
In Britain none can fit you better 
Than can your servant the Boot-maker.*' 

" (Signed) Gavin Wilson." 

Among more modern poets, members of " the gentle craft," are 
John Marshall, of Paisley ; Charles Marshall, of Rogate, (bom 1830)5 
John Frederick Rowe, (born i8a6) a London poet and political 
pamphleteer — author of a prize essay on " Labour and Relaxation," 
and pamphlets on "Parliamentary Reform," "Modern Legislation," 
"National Progress," and kindred topics 5 John Bedford Leno, 
(the editor of St. Crispin) whose poems are characterised by healthy 
sentiment and a manly spirit; and John Askham, whose graceful 
verses, with their true poetic ring, have made the shoemaker poet of 
Wellingborough an honoured name far beyond the limits of his native 
county, (Northamptonshire). This list of names would be glaringly 
defective were the name of the author of "The Purgatory of Suicides" 
not included. Thomas Cooper, one of the most learned and gifted 
of the sons of St. Crispin, is an honour to the craft of which he has 
himself said he " still thinks fondly " as having been a member of it. 
His life is one of the most splendid illustrations of the triumphs of 
human perseverance and energy over difficulties of inconceivable mag- 
nitude. Born in 1805, his early years were one painful struggle with 
privation and difficulties which must have crushed the spirit out of 
any ordinary man. His Chartism, his imprisonment in Stafford Graol, 
his publication of the poem just mentioned, bis scepticism, and his 
later and present career as an able and eloquent defender of the sacred 
truths which he once assailed are matters with which the public are 
well acquainted. He has distinguished himself not only in the theo- 
logical arena, but in poetry and fiction and in general literature, A 
man of extensive acquirements, he is one of the best living monuments 
of the power of "self-help." Caunot the craft, too, boast of the Quaker 



INDEX LOCORUM. 



BAKER'S /-. 



Pbt0rg 0f |(0rtl^ampt0nsl^w/ 



Northampton : 

Printed by J. Taylor <Sr* Son, 

1867. 



INDEX LOCORUM. 



ABINGTON. 

ABTHOEP. 

ADSTON, see Ashbt, Caitons. 

ALDEETON. 

ALTHOEP, see BEnrGTOir. 

APELTEB, see Astoit-lb- Walls. 

ASHBT, CANONS. 

ASHBT LBDGEES. 

ASHTON. 

ASTCOTB, see Pattsshttll. 

ASTON-LE-WALLS. 

ASTEOP, see Sttttok. 

ASTWELL, see Wappeitham. 

ASTWICK, see Evbflet. 

ATNHO. 



vol. i., pp. 7—17. 
vol. ii., pp. 266-270. 
vol. ii., pp. 17—20. 
vol. ii., pp. 119—122. 
vol. i., pp. 104—112. 
vol. i., pp. 475, 476. 
vol. ii., pp. 4 — 17. 
vol. i., pp. 241—252/ 
vol. ii., pp. 123—128. 
vol. ii., pp. 304—306. 
vol. i., pp. 469—474. 
vol. i., pp. 703—705. 
vol. i., pp. 731—737. 
vol. i., p. 617. 
vol. i., pp. 643—559. 



BAKER'S HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 



BADBT. 
BAEBT. 

billing,-;great. 
billing, little, 
blakesley. 
boddington. 

BOEOUQH HILL, see Datbotbt. 

BOUGHTON. 

BRACKLET. 

BBACKLET HATCH, see Bbaoklbt. 

BBADDEN. 

bbampton. 

BEAMPTON, CHAPEL, see Bbampton. 

BEAUNSTON. 

BEINGTOK 

BEINGTON, LITTLE, see Bbington. 

BEOCKHOLE. 

BUGBEOOK. 

BTJECOTE, FIELD, see Norton, Gbbbns. 

BTJECOTE, see Towoesteb. 

BYFIELD. 



vol. i., pp. 253—258. 

vol. i., pp. 262—266. 

vol. i., pp. 18—25. 

vol. i., pp. 26 — 30. 

vol. ii., pp. 20—28. 

vol. i., pp. 477 — 483. 

vol. i., pp. 339—347. 

vol. i., pp. 31—38. 

vol. 1., pp. 560—586. 
vol. i., p. 587. 

vol. ii., pp. 36—42. 
vol. i., pp. 81—87. 
vol. i., pp. 88, 89. 
vol. i., pp. 267—275. 
vol. i., pp. 89—100. 
vol. i., pp. 100, 101. 
vol. 1., pp. 112—119. 
vol. i., pp. 120—128. 
vol. ii., p. 69. 
vol. ii., pp. 338, 339. 
vol. i., pp. 484—489. 



BAKER'S HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 

CALDECOTE, see Towcbster. 
CAESWELL, see Noeton, Gbeews. 



CATESBY. 

CHACOMB. 

CHALLOCK, sed Abthoep. 

CHAELTON, see Nbwbottle. 

CHAEWELTON. 

CLA8TH0EP, see Flore. 

CLELET HUNDEED. 

COSGEAVE. 

CEOUGHTON. 

CEOWFIELD, see Siebsham. 

CULWOETH. 

DALLINGTON. 

DAELSCOTE, see Pateshull. 

DAVENTET. 

DENSHANGEB, see Passenham. 

DESCOTE, see Pateshull. 

DODFOED. 

DEAYTON, see Daventey. 

PUNCOTE, see Noeton, Geeens. 



vol. li., pp. 339, 340. 
vol. ii., p. 69. 
vol. i., pp. 276—292. 
vol. i., pp. 587—697. 
vol. ii., p. 271. 
vol. i., pp. 664—666. 
vol. i., pp. 294—304. 
vol. i., p. 169. 
vol. ii., pp. 116—119. 
vol. ii., pp. 128—136. 
vol. i., pp. 698—603. 
vol. i., p. 681. 
vol. i., pp. 604—610. 
vol. i., pp. 129—137. 
vol. ii., p. 306. 
vol. i., pp. 304—338. 
vol. ii., pp. 195—197. 
vol. ii., p. 306. 
vol. i., pp. 349—363. 
vol. i., pp. 347, 348. 
vol. ii., p. 69 



6 BAKER'S HISTORY OF. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 

DU8T0N. 

EASTON NESTON. 

EDGCOTE. 

ESTCOTE, iee Patsbhull. 

EYENLET. 

EYEBDON. 

ETDON. 

FALCOT, $ee Wappikham. 

VABNDON, M0 Woodford. 

PABTHINQHO. 

PAETHING8T0N. 

PAW8LEY HUNDBED. 

FAWSLET. 

FLOBE. 

FOBEST LODGES, see Fabsxnhaic. 

FOSCOTE, see Abthorp. 

FOSTEB'S BOOTH, see HieHAic, Cold 

FOSTEB'S BOOTH, see Patbshull. 

FOXLET, see Blakeblet. 

FUBTHO. 

GAYTON. 



vol. i., pp. 188—146. 
vol. ii., pp. 138—161. 
vol. i., pp. 491—501. 
vol. ii., p. 306. 
vol. 1., pp. 611—617. 
vol. i., pp. 363—368. 
vol. i., pp. 601—607. 
vol. i., p. 737. 
vol. i., pp. 636, 637. 
vol. i., pp. 618—626. 
vol. 1., pp. 370—376. 
vol. i., pp. 237—240. 
vol. i., pp. 377—396. 
vol. i., pp. 161—169. 
vol. ii., p. 198. 
vol. ii., pp. 270, 271. 
vol. ii., p. 291. 
vol. ii., p. 306. 
vol. ii., pp. 30 — 34. 
vol. ii., pp. 166—169. 
vol. ii., pp. 271—284. 



BAKEB'S HISTORY OP NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 

GEAPTON EEGI8. 

GEETWOETH. 

GEIM8BTJET, tee Wabkwobth. 

GEIMSCOTE, see HiaHAM, Coid. 

HADDON, EAST. 

HAL3E, see Bbaoelet. 

HANLEY PAEK, see Towobsteb. 

HAELESTON. 

HAEPOLE. 

HAETWELL. 

HEATHENCOTE. 

HELLIDON. 

HELMDON. 

HETFOED. 

HBTFOED, NETHEE, see Heteobd. 

HEYFOED, UPPEE, see Heteobd. 

HIDE OB HYDE, see Boade. 

HIGHAM, COLD. 

HINTOJff. 

HINTON, see Woodeobd. 

HOLDENBY. 



vol. ii., pp. 16Q— 182. 
vol. i., pp. 607—512. 
vol. i., pp. 746 — 760. 
vol. ii., p. 291. 
vol. i., pp. 160—166. 
vol. i., p. 686. 
vol. ii., pp. 840— 842. 
vol. i., pp. 166—176. 
vol. i., pp. 176—181. 
vol. ii., pp. 183—187. 
vol. ii., p. 214. 
vol. i., pp. 896—399. 

vol. i., pp. 627—638. 
vol. i., pp. 181, 182. 
vol. i., pp. 182—192. 
vol. i., pp. 193, 194. 
vol. ii., p. 236. 
vol. ii., pp. 284—290. 
vol. i., pp. 634—638. 
vol. i., pp. 637, 638. 
vol. i., pp. 194—210. 



) 



vol. ii., p. 197. 

vol. ii., pp. 151 — 153. 

vol. i., p. 597. 

vol. i., pp. 400 — 404. 

vol. i., pp. 39 — 45. 

vol. ii., p. 30. 

vol. i., pp. 210—215. 

vol. i., pp. 404 — 413. 



8 BAKER'S HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 

HOLYWELL, «m Pabsskhau. 

HULCOTE, we Eastoh Nsbton. 

HUSCOTE, <00 Chaoomb. 

KILSBT. 

KINGSTflOEP. 

KIBBY, 9ee Blakeblet. 

KISLINGBUEY. 

LITCHBOROTJGH. 

LONDON, LITTLE, 9ee Fabbsitham. 

vol. ii., p. 197. 

LTJFFIELD PBIOEY, tee Nortok, Greens. 

vol. ii., pp. 90—94 

MAIDFOED. 

MAESTON ST. LAWEENCE. 

MIDDLETON CHENDUIT. 

MOBE END, see Potterspuey. 

MOBTON PINKENBY. 

MOULTON. 

MOULTON PABK, see Moulton. 

MTJSCOTE, see Beockholb. 

NBTHEBCOTE, see Waekworth. 

NEWBOLD, see Catesbt. 

NEWBOTTLE GBOVE HUNDBED. 



vol. 


u.,pp 


.42—49. 


TOl. 


i., pp. 


639—647. 


vol. 


i., pp. 


648—657. 


vol. 


ii.,pp 


. 228, 229. 


vol. 


ii.,pp 


.49—57. 


vol. 


i., pp. 


45-^1. 


vol. 


i., pp. 


52, 53. 


vol. 


i.,p. 119. 


vol. 


i.,p. 


750. 


vol. 


i., p. 293. 


vol. 


i., pp. 


79—81. 

1 
( 



BAKERS mSTOTlY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 

NEWBOTTLB, see BBraoToifr. 
NBWBOTTLE. 



NEWNHAM, see Badbt. 

NOETON HTJNDBED. 

NOETON, GBEENS. 

NOBTON. 

ONLBT, see Babbt. 

OVEBSTON. 

OVEETHOBP. see Wabkwobth. 

PASSENHAM. 

PATESHULL. 

PAULEBSPTJBT. 

PITSFOBD. 

PLOWMAN'S FCJBZE, see Evenlet. 

PLTJMPTON (CLELET), see Pattlebspit^t 

PLTJMPTON (NOETON). 

POTCOTE, see Higham, Cold. 

POTCOTE, see Nobtok, GteBBirs. 

POTTEESPUBY. 

PBESTON CAPES. 

PEESTON PAEVA, see Pbeston Capes. 



Yol. i., pp. 101—104. 
vol. i., pp. 667--664i. 
vol. i., pp. 258—261. 
vol. ii., pp. 1—8. 
vol. ii., pp. 67 — 69. 
vol. i., pp. 418—428. 
vol. i., p. 267. 
vol. 1., pp. 58 — 60. 
vol. i., p. 746. 
vol. ii., pp. 187—196. 
vol. ii., pp. 292—804. 
vol. ii., pp. 199—212. 
vol. i., pp. 61 — 66. 
vol. i., p. 617. 

r 

vol. ii., p. 218. 

vol. ii., pp. 96—100. 

vol. ii., p. 291. 

vol. ii., p. 69. 

vol. ii., pp. 215—226. 

vol. i., pp. 426 — 481.. 

vol. i., pp. 431—484. 



10 BAKER'S HISTORY OP NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 

PXTBSTON, 9ee Nxwbottli. 

FUXLBT, 966 Pabsxitham. 

BADSTON. 

BAVENSTHOEP. 

BOADE. 

ST. JAMES* ABBEY, 966 Dttbton. 

ST. JAMES' END, 966 Duston. 

SEWABDSLEY, 966 Easton Neston. 

SEWELL, 966 Blakeblet. 

SHTTTLANQEB, 966 Stoke Bbttebit. 

SILVESTON, 966 NoBTON, Geebns. 

SIBESHAM. 

SLAPTON. 

SNOSCOMB, 966 EVEBDON. 

SPELHO HTINDBED. 

SPBATTON. 

STAVEBTON. 

STEANE. 

STOKE BEUEBN. 

STONETON, 966 Wabdon, Cnippina. 

STOTESBUEY. 



vol. i., pp. 667—669. 
▼ol. ii., pp. 197, 198. 
vol. i., pp. 670—676. 
vol. i., pp. 216—219. 
vol. ii., pp. 231—236. 
vol. i., pp. 146—161. 
vol. i., p. 146. 
vol. ii., pp. 163 — 165. 
vol. ii., pp. 84, 36. 
vol. ii., p. 250. 
vol. ii., pp. 86—90. 
vol. i., pp. 676—681. 
vol. ii., pp. 100—104. 
vol. i., p. 369. 
vol. i., pp. 6, 6. 
vol. i., pp. 66 — 71. 
vol. i., pp. 436—439. 
vol. i., pp. 681—689. 
/vol. ii.^pp. 287—250. 
vol. i., p. 632. 
vol. i., pp. 689—691. 



/ 



BAKER'S HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 

STOWE. 

8TEATF0ED, OLD. 

SULGEAVE. 

SUTTON HUNDBED. 

SUTTON. 

TETON, see Eaybkbthoep. 

THENFOED. 

THOEP, see Nobtok. 

THOEP MANDEVILLE. 

TIFFIELD. 

TOWCESTEE HUNDEED. 

TOWCESTEE. 

TEAFFOED, see Bymbld. 

TWYFOED, see Sutton. 

UPTON. 

WAKEFIELD, see Pottbespubt. 

WALTON see Stttton. 

WAPPENHAM. 

WAEDON HUNDEED. 

WAEDON, CHIPPING. 

WAEDON, WEST, see Aston-lb- Walls 



11 



vol. i., pp. 439 — 449. 
vol. ii., pp. 137, 138. 
vol. i., pp. 612—620. 
vol. i., pp. 639—642. 
vol. i., pp. 692—703. 
vol. i., pp. 219—221. 
vol. i., pp. 709—717. 
vol. i., pp. 423—426. 
vol. i., pp. 718—724. 
vol. ii., pp. 807—311. 
vol. ii., pp. 261—264. 
vol. ii., pp. 312—338. 
vol. i., p. 490. 
vol. i., p. 706. 
vol. i., pp. 221—229. 
vol. ii., pp. 230, 231. 
vol. i., pp. 706—708. 
vol. i., pp. 726—731. 
vol. i., pp. 467, 468. 
vol. 1., pp. 621— 632. 
vol. J. T). 476. 



\ 



12 BAKER'S HISTORY OF NOBTHAMPTONSHIKE. 

WABKWOETH. 

vol. i., pp. 738 — 746. 

WEDON. 

vol. i., pp. 450 — 457, 

WEDON PINKENET. 

vol. ii., pp. 104 — 114. 

WELTON, 

vol. i., pp. 467 — 466- 

WESTHOBP, iee Mabstok St. Lawbbitos. 

vol. i., p. 647. 

WESTON BY WEDON, we Wedoh PnmBinsT. 

vol. ii., pp. 114, 115. 

WESTON FAVELL, 

vol. 1., pp. 72—78. 

WHILTON. 

vol. i., pp. 230—236. 

WHISTLET WOOD, tee Braoklbt. 

vol. i., p. 587. 

WHITFIELD. 

vol. i., pp. 750—756. 

WHITTLEBUET, tee Noetoh, Gebbks. 

vol. ii., pp. 70 — 73. 

WHITTLEBUET FOBEST, eee Norton, Gbbbot. 

vol. ii., pp. 74—86. 

WICKEN. 

vol. ii., p. 251. 

vol. ii., pp. 28—30. 

vol. i., pp. 533—536. 

vol. ii., pp. 253—260. 

vol. ii., pp. 251—253. 

vol. ii., pp. 226, 227. 



WOODEND, 9ee Blakeslet. 

WOODFOED. 

WYKE DYVB, see Wickbk. 

WYKE HAMON, see Wioken. 

YAEDLEY GOBION, see Potterspuey. 



S|f JItttt&iif Jli|]|aal S««;|)r'» ll(«rlt. 



A SERMON 



BT THB 



ViB^op of (pe^etSotou^^^ 



AT 



The- Diocesan Festival of Sunday School Teachers^ 

HELD IN PBTERB0B0U6H CATHEDRAL, 

IN coznnKinoii inssBi 

The jSuNDAY jSchool Cbntbnai\^t, 

On Thursday, July ist, 1880. 



ITmibott : 
HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO. 

TAYLOR & SON, 22, GOLD STREET; 
HABK & BAILEY, Dsapbbt; B. HARRIS, Bbidoe Stbebt. 

SAMUEL CLARKE. Pbtbrbobouob : G. C. CASTER. 

1880. 



Thx Sermon which occupies the following pages, and one it is hoped which will 
be read with interest by all Sunday School Teachers, was preached on Thursday, 
July Ist, 1880, by the Bishop of Peterborough, at the Diocesan Festival of 
Sunday School Teachers, in connection with the Celebration of the Sunday School 
Centenary ; the serrioe being held in the Cathedral of the Diocese. Prayers 
were intoned by the Bct. T. Phillips, the Precentor, and the Epistle for the Day 
was read by the Rey. J. T. Barker, Secretary of the Church Sunday School 
Association. In the afternoon, Canon Westcott described the interior and 
exterior of the edifice to a large company, and at Four o'clock there was a 
Choral Seryice, the Anthem being " Plead Thou my cause," (Mozart.) The 
Lessons were read by the Rev. Canon Westcott and Archdeacon Thicknesse, and 
the prayers were again intoned by the Precentor. 



'":Lf^*i^<^i^„« 


^On^lffS 




l^wCB^-'/'f;^ 


J^^M 


g^*^ 


*fflr^^='"^^ h3l 



"Bui as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord*' 
Joshua xxiv., 15. 




Brethren^ 

|H£S£ were the brave and faithful words of a brave and a 
faithful man— words that were brave as regards man, words 
that were brave as regards God. Joshua, the great leader of 
the array and the people of Israel, having won for thems 
secure possession of the Promised Land« just before his approaching 
end, gathers the people together to tell them what is the only true con- 
dition on which they can continue to hold this land» He tells them 
that they are, in short, God's people, that it is as God*s people they 
have obtained possession of the land } and that it is only on condition 
of remaining God's people that they can hope to retain it. He telld 
them, in so many, words, that national prosperity and national safety 
depend upon national religion ; and then, knowing the fickle nature of 
the people he was addressing, remembering their frequent apostacy in 
times past, and anticipating the possibility of like apostacy in times to 
come, he tells the assembled multitude that they may make their choice 
— rejecting the worship of the Lord if it seem to them evil to serve 
Him, — but that as for Him and for His, the choice was made, and 
made unalterably — " as for me and for my house,'* whatever others may 
do, and whatever may be the extent of national faithlessness, we will 
be faithful, "we will serve the Lord." 

It is not, however, as an example either of courage or of faith- 
fulness that I mainly cite these words for you to-day. I cite them for 
another reason, and it is this — that these words not only express a 
great and a high purpose, but they express a great and an infinitely 
precious idea and fact 5 they express for us the idea oi fomily reUgifm, 
as distinct on the one hand from personal religion and on the 
other from national religion. Joshua couples together, you see, in 
these words himself and his house. He speaks of himself as the 



head of a ftmily ; and speaking first of his own personal religion* he 
aaySy '' I will serve the Lord /* contrasting that with national religion, he 
aajSy ''Yon should serve the Lord;*' and then, joining together him- 
self and his household, as something distinct from personal on the 
one hand and national on the other, he says, *' As for me and my 
house we will serve the Lord." 

My brethren, in these words is expressed, aa I have said, the great 
and the sacred idea of family religion. These words reveal to us the 
bmily, as what in truth it is, and what God designed it should be — 
the home afkd citadel of religious faith in the heart of the nation. 
God has His great work for individuals to do. He wakes up from 
time to time some solitary souls filled with the burden of the Word of 
the Lord, to go forth and proclaim it amongst men. He places a Moses 
upon the Mount to bring down the Law ; He sends a Paul out to 
preach the Gospel, He guides an Augustine to defend it, a Luther to 
reform it, and a Wesley to revive it. This is God's way of 
preserving the faith by the action of individual men j but mightier 
than all this, deeper than all this, though more hidden than this, is 
the task that God confides to every religious and believing household 
upon earth. It is the task of taking the seed that these great sowers 
of the word have sown, and cherishing it beneath the influence — ^the 
tender, and gracious, and mighty influence — of home. It is in the 
home, it is at the mother's knee, it is beneath the sound of the 
father's voice and the father's blessing, it is under the influence of all 
the mighty powers and all the hallowed traditions of the home, that 
our fathers from generation to generation, declared unto their children 
the mighty works of the Lord. It is there we get whatever is good 
faithfully kept and cherished. It is there that we have the life, the 
sacred life of the nation, felt with the power and the beauty of His 
faith and His Gospel. My brethren, such is God's will and God's 
purpose for the preservation of His faith. The family is its safe 
hiding place, its true nursery, that none can invade or desecrate. 

Brethren, iathera and mothers of Christian families, of whom 
I see so many gathered here to-day, remember this : Remember what 
a trust God lias given you I Think of it ! In dmes when men are 
complaining that the outside protections of religion are being broken 
down and broken through ; when men are in dismay as they see, now 
this, now that, fence of national religion, part of the protection that the 
Church should give within her precincts to pure faith and pure 
worship, broken down ; as men are wailing because of these things ;-— 
remember that there is one place sacred and safe, — that there is one 
citadel for religion within which it may survive the wreck even of all 



these things, and that is in your homes and beside jour hearths. 
Great is the sacred trust that God has given to you Christian fathers 
and mothers in this Christian England still, and be your word of 
resolve, and more, your word of prayer, this — *' As for me and my 
bouse, we will serve the Liord.'* 

I. Why, I ask the Sunday School Teachers gathered here, 
have I selected a text which speaks of family religion and family 
piety, for the service of to-day? For these reasons: That, in 
the first place, if family religion were all that it ought to be, 
if every home in England were an ideally perfect Christian 
home, and children were there perfectly taught and perfectly trained in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and if every parish in England 
were an ideally perfect parish, and to the home training of the parent 
were added the school obligation of catechising children in 
the Church, there might be comparatively little need — ^there are 
some who say that there would be no need — for the institution of the 
Sunday School. But just because homes are not ideally perfect, andf 
it is to be feared are never likely to be all of them ideally perfect 
amongst us — because the ideally perfect home and the ideally perfect 
Christian parish are ideas yet to be realized — for this reason, there is 
for your Sunday School work of incalculably precious occupation and 
service for the faith of God and the Gospel of Christ. 

How has it been brethren with the origin of these Sunday 
Schools so largely represented here to-day ? One hundred years ago 
religion was at a low — some say at its lowest— ebb. The nation was 
torn asunder in years past by long and bitter religious and political 
strife. And what a lesson and a warning there is for us in these 
stormy times of strife ! But the nation, grown weary of religious 
strife, had grown weary of religion too, and had sunk into cold and 
listless apathy and neglect — whole villages without the Word of Grod 
— collections of nominally Christian homes that never echoed with 
the whisper of a word of prayer — the catechising of the children and 
the training of the young of Christ's flock unknown almost alike in 
the Dissenting Chapel and in the Church — that was the condition of 
religion, the condition of the nation then, and the little ones, Christ*s 
lambs, were scattered abroad in this evil world as sheep having no 
shepherd. And then it came into the heart of a good man to set on 
foot this great work in England which we are now met to celebrate. 
A single, humble, unknown layman, God stirred his heart with pity 
for the little ones of His flock, and with the advice and with the help 
of his pastor of the* Church of England, that good man began in fear 
and trembling, but in faith, the great work that has grown to. the 
dimensions of this day. 



Brethren, that work you see sprang out of this— that the family 
religion, that the pastoral training^of the young in England, was not 
what it ooght to have been, and might have been ; and for that reason 
the work then begun is needed still, and will continue to be needed. 
Bat that is not the only reason, brethren, why I have dwelt upon this 
fact of the origin of your Sunday Schools as an attempt to supply 
what was lacking in the family and in the Church. What I km specially 
desirous to press upon you is this, that bearing in mind the origin of this 
great Sunday School system — that it was an attempt to supply defective 
home teaching, and to supplement, if not to replace, the catechising of 
children in the Church — if it is to be useful work, if it is to be 
successful work, the workers in it must never forget the origin of 
their work and the aim and purpose of it. If you desire your Sunday 
School teaching work to be what it ought to be, and what you would 
have it to be, never forget that it should aim at these two things, (i) 
the doing so far as you may the work of the parent in the home, and 
(2) the work of the pastor in the teaching of the young in public — 
not doing their work instead of them, but doing their work so far as 
they leave it to you in the one case or as they invite you to do it in 
the other. And let me, before I go iurther, speak to you as to how 
these ideas are to be carried out — the idea of parental teaching and 
the idea of pastoral instruction in the Sunday School. 

Let me say one word to this great gathering of Sunday School 
Teachers here, and let it be in the first place a word of hearty, 
affectionate thankfulness. Let me thank you, dear brethren and 
sisters, thank you who are engaged in this great work. Let me, as 
the Bishop of the Diocese, as your father in God — let me on behalf 
of your pastors — let me on behalf of the children whose souls you 
are striving for — let me thus publicly thank you and those whom you 
represent for your unbought, and loving, and priceless services. We 
do thank you heartily because you are giving yourselves to the work 
of the Lord. 

II. Let me remind you in the next place that if you enter into this 
work as allies both of the parent on the one hand and the pastor on 
the other, you are entering upon a high and holy function. . Let me 
entreat you in the words the Church addresses to those who are 
about to be admitted to the priesthood — and in a measure and degree they 
apply to everyone who girds himself for any work in Christ's Church 
— let me remind you how great is the office and how weighty the charge 
committed to your hands, for you are those to >^hom are committed 
the little ones of that flock for which Christ has shed His blood. 



With what zeal, with what loving devotion, with what earnestness of 
purpose, with what faith, with what hope, with what joy should you 
give yourselves to this great work for God and for Christ. 

But, in the last place, let me say to you a few words as to the 
manner in which, as it seems to me, you should endeavour to carry 
out these two ideas of your institution — ^the idea of the home and the 
idea of the pastoral teaching of the young. 

Brethren and sisters, the parents iji this country to a very large 
degree — I for one fear to too great a degree — are willing to 
surrender into your hands the care and the teaching of their children. 
On Sundays they hand over to the Sunday School and the Sunday 
School teacher that which God has given to them ; they hand over 
to you the care and the charge of their children for the greater part 
of the day. What should be' your aim and endeavour ? Should it 
not be this — that your Sunday Schools and your own Sunday School 
class should, as far as possible, exhibit the very ideal of a Christian 
home? — that you should be in your class as a Christian father or 
mother, as a Christian elder brother or sister, in the midst of the little 
onesi:o be won for God ? — that the idea of the weekly School, with 
its tasks, with its punishments, with its emulations, with its envyings, 
with its successes and failures, with its weariness, should, as little as 
possible find its place in your Sunday School or your Sunday School 
class ; and as much as possible of the love, of the kindliness, of the 
uncontentiousness, of the cheerful and ready order and kindly 
discipline of the home, of the ideal home even, find a place in your 
School and in your class. Love should be the guiding principle, love 
should be the pervading atmosphere of the Sunday School. You 
should strive above all things to win the loving regard of the little 
ones entrusted to you, and you will not win it, you cannot win it, 
unless you begin by loving them. You must bring to your work, to 
your class, a heart full of Christian, generous affection — a patient 
love for all the littles ones — not for one or another only, not for the 
one who shows you most attention and' most affection, not for the one 
that is easiest to teach, not for the one who does most credit to you in 
an examination, or satisfies you most with the readiness and smartness 
of his or her answering, but, it may be the lowest, the dullest, least 
hopeful, least atttactive of your class — for that one you should have 
and you should cultivate the largest and most patient love, just as the 
yearning and watchful love of the mother goes out not to the 
strongest and healthiest but to the weakest and sickliest of the little . 
ones whom God has given her. A large-hearted, patient love is the 
first requisite for a Sunday School teacher. 



8 

And in the next pboe let me earnestly press upon yon this, that 
in ail your dealings with your children, in all your teachings of them, 
yon should aim at that which should be the real teaching of the home, 
that which is expressed in the words of my text, that you should train 
your children to serve the Lord. Practical piety, the piety of daily 
life, the piety that will stren)|rthen them against the temptations of 
daily labour or daily amusement, the piety that will enable them to go 
through life fearing God and walking in His ways, the piety that 
comes from the knowledge that there is a Father in heaven that loves, 
a Saviour that redeems, and a Holy Spirit that sanctifies 5 a piety that 
consists in the conformation of the heart and of the life to those great, 
broad, and universally accepted dogmas of the Christian faith, put 
into words so simple to teach and yet so deep and so far-reaching — 
this piety it should be your endeavour in all you say and do in your 
teaching to inculcate. 

There is a danger, and a real danger, in all religious teaching, to 
substitute knowledge about religious things for religion itself. I don*t 
disparage brethren, God forbid that I should disparage the precious- 
ness of any knowledge of, or knowledge connected with, the Holy 
Word of God. All such knowledge is precious. All such knowledge 
may even be made interesting in its degree, but there is a great danger 
from the very facility for gaining such knowledge — ^from the ease, the 
comparative ease, with which it may be tested and made a condition 
of premium or reward, or made to redound to the credit of the school 
or of the teacher — there is a great danger of substituting this for the 
less attractive, less dazzling, but infinitely more precious accomplish- 
ment of the heart, a knowledge of the heart truths of Christianity. I 
don't sneer, God forbid I should sneer, as I have said, at textual 
knowledge merely of the Bible. But I do say this, that you may 
teach your children all Biblical history— you may make them skilled 
in the story of the travels of the Children of Israel in the wilderness or 
their location in the Promised Land, and omit the deeper lessons 
that should guide your children in their passage through this world's 
wilderness, and in their way to the promised land "of Heaven — 
you may teach your children the names of the kings and rulers who 
lived after Joshua, and may omit the deeper lesson to be drawn from 
their story, how men should rule themselves in the fear and love 
of God—you may teach your children the very story of our Lord's 
love with all its infinite beauty that attracts the admiring eyes of even 
enemies; may make them familiar with the words of our Lord, and 
yet may so teach the story of that love, and teach the letter of that word, 
that it shall be the '* letter that kills and not the spirit which giveth 



life.*' Never fail^ never fail in your teaching to have this aim ever set 
before yourselves and those you teach> and may teach^ that you may so 
teach, and they may so learn, that they may serve the Lord. 

In the last place, brethren, as regards the pastor* s office of teaching, 
I entreat you who are Sunday School teachers, I entreat you to 
remember this — that the pastor is he to whom is entrusted the cure 
and the government of the souls of his parishioners — that it is he 
who calls you to his side to help him in teaching the little ones 
of the flock. You owe, then, to the pastor of your parish, loyalty. 
You owe to him a willing desire to carry out in the Sunday 
School not your views or theories, but his ; not your teaching, but his. 
He should study with you, as I trust in increasing numbers the 
pastors of this diocese are studying with their Sunday School 
teachers, the lessons that they should impart to the little ones on 
Sunday. You should learn willingly, reverently, and diligently of 
him ', and you should regard yourselves as his hands, as his mouth- 
pieces in the parish, in order that you may do that which in many 
cases has become almost a physical impossibility for him to do, the 
training and teaching of the young in the doctrines of our most 
holy faith. 

Let me add to this, then, diligent and careful preparation for your 
own teaching. It is, as I have already said to you, a solemn and 
responsible moment in which the teacher of the Sunday School finds 
himself or herself in the presence of the little ones, with their minds 
so open to impression for good or evil -, so quick and so keen to note, 
as some of you doubtless know, mistakes, defects in conduct, in 
teaching, and in temper — I say it is a solemn moment in which the 
Sunday School teacher finds himself or herself in the presence of 
those young souls to be trained and taught for Christ. It needs 
careful preparation, and that too not only of the mind but of the 
heart, discipline, self-government, control over temper, control over 
speech, control over manner and habit alike, that you may win, that 
you may influence for good the minds and hearts of the little ones. 
Let that preparation then be real, let it be careful, let it be prayerful, 
let it be earnest, and it will tell in your demeanour and teaching in 
School. 

One word, and one word only more, as to the character of your 
teaching in all your Sunday Schools. Let your teaching be distinct, 
and, I am not afraid to say, let it be dogmatic. What is dogma ? 
It is doctrine taught upon authority. What are children? Little 



lO 

creatures that learn upon authority — little creatures to whom God has 
given that blessed chtld-like instinct of faith that makes it possible for 
them to learn and to know before they can reason and dispute — to 
whom it is not necessary, thank God, to prove; to whom it is enough in 
most cases to teach. Let your teaching, then, come with authority and 
let it be with the authority of Christ's church of which you and they 
are members. Let the teaching of our church — distinct, dogmatic, and 
yet simple and charitable teaching, that is notcontroversial teaching, that 
is simply and clearly Christian — let the teaching of our Church as she 
gives it in her Catechism — the Catechism that includes the Creed, the 
Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and such simple and homely 
teaching, yet teaching that never grows old, as she gives in our duty to 
God and our duty to our neighbour — let such teaching as that be care- 
fully, simply, and earnestly expounded and enforced in your Sunday 
Schools. There is ample within the bounds of the Church Catechism 
for the religious training of the young, and let your teaching be de^ly 
scriptural. You should bring to your teaching minds saturated with 
the Bible, and seek, if possible, so to saturate the minds of the children. . 
But, in addition to this, never forget that you are members of the Church 
in this country that has set, in charge of the little ones, pastors in each 
parish J that from them you derive authority to teach and from her 
you derive the teaching you are to give. And while you train your 
children to be Biblical in their knowledge, train them also to know and 
to understand their privileges as being members of the Christian and 
Reformed Church of England. 

Brethren and sisters in Christ Jesus, I have endeavoured briefly — 
I have endeavoured, I feel how imperfectly, for I feel the vastness of 
the subject — I have endeavoured to set before you some of the aspects 
of your Sunday School work ; not, I trust, discouraging, but rather 
cheering and encouraging in this> that I have reminded you that you 
are doing a great work for God -, and surely you may believe that He 
will not forsake nor leave off helping those who work for Him. Let 
me find for you one word of encouragement in the very fact that we 
are gathered here to-day — a word of encouragement and yet a word of 
teaching. What is that whiqh this Sunday School Centenary most 
deeply may, wUh impress upon our mind ? The double thought of 
the greatness of the institution on the one hand, and on the other 
the greatness of individual souls and individual work. How vast is 
this Sunday School organization in our country ! How widely it has 
spread ! How deeply it has cast its rootlets in almost every parish in 
this country ! How much there is to be thankful for, in spite of 
detects, in spite of failures that are inherent in all things human ! 
How vast the work that is really being done every Sunday in every 



II 

))ansh in this county — ^true, honesty and therefore blessed work, as all 
work for God is blessed that is true and honest ! That is the thought 
of the greatness of the institution of which you are niembers, and in 
the thought of that greatness we might be pardoned for thinking that 
small is the consequence or importance of one Sunday School in 
some remote country parish ; and there is a danger that we might be 
tempted to think, *' What matters how I teach in this out-of-the-way 
country school ! How can this afiect the progress of the great work of 
Sunday School teaching ! *' And yet this Centenary has this very 
lesson— he who begun this work might have said this very thing : 
''What can be the advantage of my small work ? What shall be the 
opinion of me or my little Sunday School gathered in my house — 
what shall be the opinion of it when I am dead and gone ? What 
matters it what I do ? At any rate I will do my best, but what can 
come of it ?" We see what has come of it. If the founder of 
Sunday Schools could witness to-day what we see, his thoughts 
would be — " What hath God wrought ?** What power, what might 
can God work through individual souls!** Let none, then, despise 
their work. Let all honour it and feel its greatness as work done for 
God, and believe that, if it may please God, out of your work in times 
to come may spring results that you dream not of — efiects far greater 
than your wild imagination ever led you to contemplate. But be the 
result of individual work what it may in the larger scale of the 
Church or the nation, it is your work 5 it is the work God has given 
you to do ', it is work for souls 3 it is work that must have its bearing 
upon eternity 5 it is work in which you are learning and in which you 
are teaching others to serve the Lord. On such work we pray for 
God's largest and deepest blessings. On those who are working in 
it we pray for a double blessing that they who water the vineyards of 
others may have their own souls watered by the richest dews of the 
gospel. TJpon parish and upon people and those parishes so largely 
represented here by loving and faithful pastors, and those Schools so 
largely represented here by earnest and devoted and self-denying 
teachers — upon this great work of the training of the young for Grod, 
on the success of which under God's will and God*s blessing rests in 
very deed the continuance of national piety, and with national piety, all 
the blessings which it brings to the Church and State in this realm— 
upon this great and this good work for God and for the souls of men 
we pray for the blessing of Almighty God. God give you grace — 
pastors and teachers alike — God give you grace so to live, so to strive, 
in your great work, that you and yours may still continue to serve the 
Lord. Amen. 



Taylor & Son, Printers and Publishers, Northampton. 



Demy Sw., sewed, IVrapper, 54pp* 

By the Right Rev. W. C. MAGEE, 

8»bo|f of f <tefbonmg|r, 

jFour Sermons on Special Occasions. 

Price One Shilling. 
NORTHAMPTON : TAYLOR & SON 5 and all Booksellers. 




ji Gravr. BivimiprFcife , not tiirbuhntj 
Jlnd njtver J^^^^yr of th^f'ku r flies IT lit 

T^isxf htitpftrl oftkcke pniife of r>OD 



tmoxxRh 



REV. JOHN DOD, M.A, 

Rector of Fawsley, Northamptonshire ^ 1624 — 1645. 



TO WHICH IS PBBVIXED 



A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE. 



Qmtaining Bibliographical List of the Writings of John Dod 
and References to Biographical Notices of him, etc. 



FAC-SIMILE PORTRAIT. 



PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY TAYLOR & SON. 



1881. 



To OUR Readers. 



The Publication of these memorials was undertaken at the request of Sir 
Henry Dryden, Bart., of Canon's Ashby, in this county, a copy of the 
early edition of "The Sermon on Malt" having been sent the hon. 
baronet by Mr. Albert Hartshorne. The publisher feels that no apology 
is needed for the re-publication, in Northamptonshire, of the writings of 
"Old Dr. Dod," the worthy Puritan having been so intimately connected 
with this county and having, so unmistakeably, added to the memorableness 
of at least two places in the county, otherwise memorable — Canon's Ashby 
and Fawsley. — He ministered for some time in the Parish Church of Canon's 
Ashby, and was for twenty-one years rector of Fawsley, where he died 
in 1645 at the advanced age of 95. His " Plaine and Familiar Exposition 
of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seuenteenth Chapters of the Prouerbs of 
Salomon" (1609) was dedicated **To the Right Worshipfvl our approoued 
good friend Erasmvs Driden Esquire ;" whilst his ** Plaine and Familiar 
Exposition of the Lord's Prayer" (1635) is dedicated "To the Right 
Worshipfvl his much honoured loving friend Mr. Richajd Knightley," who 
was himself an eminent Puritan. 

Having succeeded in obtaining a copy from the original copper-plate 
portrait of Dod, (by Cross) we have been enabled to present our readers 
with a photo-lithographic fac-simile of the same as a frontispiece. 

Not the least interesting feature of the memorials is the insertion of the 
text of the only three known MS. versions of the Sermon on the word 
** Malt." The dates of the MSS. of the three texts are all contemporary 
with Dod. That of the text found in the Bodleian Library is written by 
Ashmole himself on the back of a letter signed " J. Suckling, 1629." 

It has been sought to preserve in every detail the quaint characteristics of 
the original editions of the writings here embodied ; and the Publisher trusts 
that his efforts to re-produce the quaintest sermon and sa3nings of this 
eminent divine in their original garb may meet with the appreciation not 
merely of the bibliophile and antiquary but of the general public. 

JOHN TAYLOR. 
North ampton^ 

October ^ 1875. 



CONTENTS. 



I. 

A Sermon upon the Word Malt. Preached in the Stump of a 
hollow Tree, by the Rev. John Dod, M.A. Author of the 
Remarkable and approved Sa3nings, to which is prefixed a brief 
Account of the Life of the Author. 

11. 

The Text of Three MS. Versions of the Sermon on the 
WORD Malt, 

III. 

The Worthy Sayings of Old Mr. Dqd. Fit to be treasured 
up in the Memory of every Christian. In Two Parts. 

IV. 

Bibliographical List of the Writings of John Dod. With 
Biographical Notice by the Rev. W. D. SWEETING, M. A. 

V. 
References to Biographical Notices of John Dod. 

VI. 

Addenda. 



The Text of Thru MS. Versions 
THE SERMON ON THE WORD 

MALT. 



( 2 ) 
I. 

[British Museum, Sloane MS. 3769,^^^. aib to 22b.] 

An £xtempore Sermon 
P'ched att y* request, of two Schollers (by a Lover of 
Ale) out of a hollow Tree. 

Beloved, 
Let mee crave yo' attenton 5 for I am a Little Man, 
come att a short warning, to preach a breife Sermon, 
vpon a Small subiect, to a thin Congregaton, in an 
vnworthy pulpit. 

And now my beloved my text is Malt. Which 
I cannot devide into Sentences because it is none, 
nor into words it being but one, nor into Syllables 
because (upon the whole matter) it is but a monosyllable 
therefore I must (as necessity enforces mee) divide it 
into Letters w**» I find in my text to be only these 
foure M. a. 1. 1. 

M my beloved is Morrall 

A is Allegoricall 

1 is Litterall and 

T is Theologicall 

The morall is well set forth to teach you Drunkards 
good manners wherefore 

M my Masters. 

A all of you 

L listen 

T to my text 



( 3 ) 

The Allegoricall is when one thinge is spoken of, & 
a-nother thinge is meant now the thing spoaken of is 
bare Malt, but the thing meant is stronge beer w** 
you Rusticks make 

M meat 

A apparrell 

L Liberty & 

T treasure 

The Litterall is according to the Letter 

M much 

A Ale 

L Little 

T thrift much Ale little thrift 

The Theologicall is according to y* Effects w** it 
works, w*"^ I find in my text to be of twoe kinds, !•* in 
this world 2'y in y« world to come 

In this world y« effects w*^ it works are 

In some M Murther 

in others A Adultery 

in some L loosnes of Life 

in others T treason 

In y* world to come 

In some M misery 
in others A anguish 
in some L languishing 
in others T torment 



( 4 ) 

Whovfore my first use shalbe £xliortatdQ 

M my Masters 

A all of you 

L leaue 

T tippling 

or else secondly by way of Comminaton I say 

M my Masters 

A all of you 

L look for 

T torment 

Soe much for this tyme & text, only by way of 
Cauton take this, 

A Drunkard is an Annoyance of modesty, the trouble 
of Civility, y* Spoyle of wealth,^ the destructon of Reason, 
the Brewers Agent, y« Alehouses benefactor 'the Beggers 
Companion, the Constables trouble, his wifes woe, his 
Childrena sorrow, his neighbours Scojff, his owne shame, a 
wakeing-S will-tub, the picture of a beast, & the monster 
of a man. 

Say-well & doe-well end both w*^ a Letter 
Say-well is good, but doe-well is better. 



K 5 ) 

TI. 

[British Museum^ Shane MS. 6ig, f. 43.] 

At a certain time there was a minister invited to preach 
at a Country P'ish Church & takeing an occasion to 
reproue Drunkards called them by Opprobrious names as 
Malt Wormes, &c. 

Some of them disliking of it did Conclude therupon if 
they could fitly doe it to beate him 3 It chanced not long 
after this minister haueing occasion to Travaile that Way 
mett these Parishoners Comeing out of an Alehouse 
who threatened him & pulld him off his horse, & told 
him hee must there make a Sermon & they would give 
him a text -, And his text should bee malt. 

Hee thinking fitter then to yeild to them then to 
contend with men in that Case began his sermon in this 
wise. 

. Take Notice that the Text is 

MALT. 

There is noe preaching without a division & this text 
cannot well bee devided into many parts^ because it is but 
one word. 

Nor into many Sillables because it is a mony sillable ^ 
It must therfore bee devided into Letters & they are 
foUre M, a, 1. 1. These rep'sent the four interp'tations 
that wee divines do often use. M, Morall. A. Ale- 
goricall. L. Litterall & T. Trophologicall. 



( 6 ) 

M. Morall the morrall interp'tation is put first to teach 
you boisterous men some good maimers at Least in 
stirring up ycF attention to the Sermon 

M. Masters, A. All, L. listen, T. to the Text. 

A. Allegoricall. The Allegory is when one thing is 
Spoken & another thing is meant. 

The thing Spoken of is malt the thing meant is the 
Oyle of Malt, commonly called Ale which to you Drunk- 
ards is so p'cious that you count it to bee M. meate; 
A armo', L libertye, T treasure. 

L. Literal! the Literall Sense as it hath been often 
heard of hertefore it is still true according to the Letter. 
M. much. A. ale. L. litle: T. thirst. 

T. the Tropho-Logicall Seuce is' in this world, or in the 
world to come. The thing here Spoken of is the oyle of 
Malt Ale which worketh in Some of you and Causeth 
M. murder. A adultery, & it maketh all of you to bee 
L looseliuers & many T Traitors. 

That w** herafter foUoweth both in this world & the 
world to Come is M. misery. A, anguish, L. lam- 
entation, T. Trouble, 

I should now make Conclusion that So you might 
Escape those Dangers, but I have noe hope to .p'vaile 
because 

I plainly See by my Text as it plainly telleth mee it is 
M to A y* is a thousand to one you will neuer amende 
because all Drunkards are Such as L. Hue, T. Theeues. 



( 7 ) 

III. 

[Bodleian Library, Ashm, MS, 826,/. 102.] 

Certaine Drankards, retorning from a merry 
meeting at a Country Alehouse, by the way 
overtpoke a Preacher: who in a Sermon, he had 
lately made against Drunkenes, amongst other 
bitter reproofes, (as the sweete Lyquore fellowes 
construed it) had tearmed them Malt-Wormes. 
wherefore they agreed to take him, & by violence 
compell him to preach them a Sermon, appointing 
him his Theame to be 

MALT. 

Preacher 

There is noe Teaching w*^out a Division. This Theame 
canot well be divided into many parts, because it is but 
one word ; nor yet into Sylables, as being a Mono-sillable. 
It must therefore be parted into foure Letters, & those 
being MALT: doe forme y* word Malt, my Theame. 

Theis foure Letters, represent foure distinct Interpreta- 
cons, w«^ we Divines doe much vse 3 first M : Morall, 
secondly A: AUegoricall, thirdly L: Litterall, fourthly 
T : Tropologicall. 

The Morall is fittly placed first, if not to teach rude 
boysterous fellowes good Manners 5 yet at least to procure 
your peaceble attencon to y* Sermon, wherefore, 
M : Masters, A : all, L : listen, T : to theame. 



( 8 ) 

An Allegory is, when one thing is spoken & another 
thing ment 7* thing here spoken is of Malt, the thing 
meant is the oyle of Malt, w^ to the Drunkards is soe 
pretious, as that they account M : their Meate, A : their 
Ale, L : their Liberty, T : their Treasure. 

Their litterall sence, hath ever byne found sutable to 
the Theame, & confirmed by Beggerly Experience 
M : A : L : T : much Ale, little Thrift. 

The Tropologicall, is manifested by the effect in the 
humor predominant, stirring up in some M : Murther» in 
others A : Adultery, in most L : loose living, and in others 
some T : Trechery, and Consequently . M ; Misery, 
A : Anguish, L : Lamentation, T : Tribulation. 

For Conclusion, I doe seriously exhort you all vnto 
Repentance, & amendment of lyfe, y' soe you may 
escape the penalty due to such swinish livers ; but I much 
feare y* I loose my labour -, my Theme shewing that it is 
M : to A : a Thousand pounds to a Pott of Ale, if 
1 : K : L : one Knave of Fifty, will ever L : T : leave to 
love potting. 

Neverthelesse, in regard of the discharge of my dutifull 
Love unto you, my dearely beloved Brethren, I doe 
againe & againe, exhort you one thing 3 M : mend, 
A: and L: leave T: tipling. 

By this tyme the Ale, and his perswasion soe wrought, 
as they fell asleepe j and the Preacher closely, crept away. 



( 9 ) 
The Second Fart of 

Old Mr. DOB' s Sayings. 

BEfore he was married, he could fcarce 
maintain himfelf, his Living being but 
fmall, and thereupon be was thinking bow 
be fhould do to maintain a Wife and Chil- ' 
dreaj but looking out of his Study- Win- 
dow, he faw a Hen and Chickens fcratching 
for their Living, when he considered. That 
the Hen did but live before, and had nothing 
to ipare, and fhe had as much with that 
great Family. § Upon a Time, when an 
AiHi6tion was upon him, which went to his 
Heart, and under the Burthen thereof he 
wept ', yet when he faw that it was the Will 
of God, faid he, to one whom he loved, I 
will go and blefs God, for I believe this will 
be for my Good § He was of a weaned 
Difpofition from the World, and he labour'd 
to wean others. He put this Difference 
between rich and poor Chriftians, That for 
poor Chriftians, their Father kept the Purfe, 
but the rich keep the Purfe in their own 
Hands J but it did often fall out, that it is 
better that the Purfe is in their Father's 
Hands than theirs. § He ufed to compare 
wicked Men to Waves in the Sea 5 thofe of 
great Eftate were great Waves, those of 
fmall Eftate fmall Waves 5 but that all were 



^ ■<>'•% /ty 



( 10 ) 

as refUels as Waves. § To a Friend of his> 
that was railed from a mean Eftate to much 
worldly Greatnefs, he fent Word, That this 
was but as if he ihould go out of a Boat in- 
to a Ship, and that he ihould remember^ 
that while he was in this World, he was 
upon the Sea. k Having preached out of that 
Text, ' O Woman, great is thy Faith ! be 
it unto thee even as thou wilt,' He invited 
fome Women to Dinner, and told them. It 
was an ufual Saying, ' Let a Woman have 
her Will, and then ihe'll be quiet * Now the 
Way for a Woman to have her Will, is to 
get a drong Faith, and pray as the Woman 
did in the Gospel. § He ufed to marvel what 
the Vocation of fome was, who were fo ea- 
ger for Recreations^ and fay. If we ihould 
come into a Houfe, and fee many Phyiick- 
Boxes and Glaffes, we ihould conclude fome- 
body was lick; fo, when we fee Hounds 
and Hawks, Cards and Dice, we may fear 
there is fome iick Soul in the Family § He 
ufed to fay. If it were lawful to envy any, 
he would envy thofe that turned to God in 
their Youth, whereb f they efcaped much 
Sin and Sorrow, an i were like Jacob, that 
Hole away the Blefkings betimes. I| Some 
riotous Gentlemen dining at the Table of a 
worthy Gentleman, were flarved in the 
Midft of a Feaft, becaufe refraining from 



( " ) 

Swearing (Meat and Drink to them) in the 
Preience of Mr. Dod: One after Dinner 
fairly confeifed^ that he thought it had been 
impoilible for him to forbear Oaths for fuch 
a Time : Hereat Mr. Dod fell into a perti- 
nent and feafonable Discourfe^ of what 
Power Men have more than they know of 
themfelves to refrain from Sin^ and how ac- 
tive Grod's retraining Grace would be in us 
to bridle us from Wickedneis, were we not 
wanting to ourfelves. || His Preaching was 
fo learching^ that fome fuppofed he had In- 
formers to tell him of Mens Adions> becauie 
he touched them fo clofe: He anfwered> 
that the Word was iearching^ and that if 
he was ihut up in a dark Vault, where none 
could come at him^ yet allow him but a 
Bible and Candle, he would preach as he 
did. II He ufed to fay. That Afili£tions were 
God's Potions, which we might fweeten by 
Faith and Prayer 5 but we for the moil 
Part make them bitter, putting into Grod's 
Cup the ill Ingredients of our own Impa- 
tience and unbelief. || He told fome of his 
Friends, That if he was to pafs Sentence 
who was a rich Man, he would not look 
into his Purfe or Chefl, to fee how much 
Silver or Gold -, but he would look into his 
Heart, what Promifes were treafured up 
there; for we count him rich, who is rich 



( V 12 ) ' 

in Bonds and the pleading the Promiies is the 
fuing of the Bonds. ( He would fay that was 
well which ended everlaftingly well, and that 
was ni which ended everlaftingly 111. § That a 
Man was never undone till in Hell. [| Speaking 
about going to Law, his Opinion was, That it 
was better to buy Love than Law ; for one might 
have a great Deal of Love for a little, where- 
as he could have but a little Law for a great 
Deal. II Being to advife a young Man in the 
Choice of a Yoke-Fellow, he bid him look princi- 
pally after Godlinefs. Men talk of a Portion 5 
Grace is the beft Portion: The wife Woman 
buildeth up the Houfe^ that is, the godly Wo- 
man, not the rich. || He was much given to 
Hofpitality, and when he had invited a great 
many, fo that his Wife would begin to doubt of 
her Provifion, when fo many were come, he would 
ufually Say, Better want Meat than good Com- 
pany. II When hi faw a true Chriftian look lad, 
he would ufe that Speech which Jonadab did to 
Amnon, Thou art a King's Son. || He would 
fay to thoie that complained of Loffes and CroHi^, 
that which £liphaz faid to Job, Do the Confo- 
latious of God feem fmall to you ? Grod hath ta- 
ken away your Children, your Goods; but he 
hath not taken away himfelf, nor Chrift, nor his 
Spirit nor Heaven, nor eternal Life. || He 
advised Hulbands and Wives, that when either 
of them were in a Paflion, they fhould not anfwer 



( 13 ) 

Paffion forPaffion^ but with Com*pdffioD. || When 
his Servant came to vifit him in a Mornings he 
would fay. Have you been with God to blefs him 
for your Sleep this Night ? He might have made 
your Bed your Grave. || Being at Holmby-Houfe, 
and invited by an Honourable Perfonage to fee 
that flately Building, ereded by Sir Chriflopher 
Hatton, he defired to be excufed, and to fit ftill 
looking on a Flower in his Hand, giving this 
Reaion : I fee more of God in this Flower, than 
in all the beautiful Edifices in the World. || The 
Soldiers coming to his Houfe in the Time of the 
late Wars, and having taken moil of the Linen 
and Houfhold Stufif, bringing them down into 
the Room where Mr. Dod was fet warming him by 
the Fire-Side, he, in their Abfence out of the 
Room, in fearching for more, took a Pair of Sheets, 
and clapped them under the Cufhion whereon he 
iat, much pleafing himfelf, after their Depar- 
ture, that he had plundered the Plunderers, and 
by a lawful Felony, £aved fo much of his pwn 
to himfelf. || He always expe6ted Troubles, and 
prepared himfelf for them ; and put this Dif- 
ference betwixt the Afili6tions for which we are 
prepared and others, that the one are Blows on 
the Harnefs, and the others are Blows upon the 
Flefti. II He ufed to compare Rebukes, uttered in 
a Paifion, to fcalding Potions, which the Patients 
could not take down 5 and his C^inion was, that 
if we would do to others, we fliould labour for 



( 14 ) 

Meekoeis of Wifiloiii^ wherebj we may be enabled to uf 
foft Words and hardAi^g^uments. || In the Beginning of the 
Wars, when many good People came unto him, being af- 
frighted with the Soldiers, he encouraged them ufing this 
Speech, That if a Houfe was full of Rods^ what need the 
Child fear, when none of them could move without the 
Father's Hand ? And the Lord was a loving Father^ and 
Eflate and Life were all at his Difpoial II When afterwards 
fome Soldiers came to his Houfe, and threatened to knock 
him on the Head, he anfwered with Confidence, That if 
they did, theyihould lend him to Heaven, where he longed 
to be : But they could do nothing without God's Leave. || 
When the Soldiers broke open his Cheftsand Cupboards, and 
plundered him of his Groods, he laid to a Friend of his, 
that he would not do them that Honour to fay. That they 
had taken aught from him, but it was the Lord, alledging 
that of Job, who, when he was fpoiled by the Sabaeans and 
Chaldaeans, yet did not fo much as name the Inflruments,but 
faid. The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away. 
II He would fay, he hat could anfwer two Queflions well, 
might have Comfort in any Place or Condition, viz. Who 
am I ? and What do I here ? Am I a Child of God ? and 
am I in my Calling and Way ? He hath given his Angels 
Charge to keep thee in all thy Ways. || He ufed to fay. That 
the Knowledgeof two Things would make one willing to fuf- 
fer or to die, viz. What Heaven is, and that it is mine* 
Yes, faid one if a Man was fare. To whom he anfwered. 
Truly, AfTurance is to be had ; and what have we been 
doing all this while ? || He ufed to fay, they that hope 
to go to Heaven (as moft do) and have not Evidence for 
it, were like to a Man, that by paffing by fome great Houfe 
or Eflate, would fay, this is mine -, but being bid to fhow 
his title, would fay, fomebody mufl have it -, and why not 
I ? Such is many Men's Title to Heaven. 



( }S ) 

A goodly MiniHer being in a Confumption^ came to 
Alhby, not far from Fawfly, to have the Help of Mr. 
Dod's Counfels and Comforts : He was much oprrefled with 
Melancholy, and, a little before his Death, asked Mr Dod, 
What will you fay to me, that am going out of the World, 
and can find no Comfort ? To whom he faid. What will you 
fay of our Saviour, who, when he was going out of the 
World, found no Comfort, but cried out. My God, my 
Gad, why haft thou forfaken me ? This Speech much re- 
frelhed the Mintfter, a little before he went to his heavenly 
Inheritance. || Being ftricken in Years, he ufed to compare 
himfelf unto Sampfon, when his Hair was cut off: I arife 
in the Morning, fays he, as Sampfon 'did, and think I will 
go out as at other Times : Go watch, ftudy, and ride, as 
when a young Man : Bnt, alas ! he quickly found an 
Alteration, and fo did 1 3 who muft ftoop to Age, who 
hath dipt my Hair, and taken away my Strength. || In 
the 63rd Year of his Age he had a Fever, in which there 
was little Hopes of his Life : The Phyfician feeing fome 
Signs of his Recovery, faid to him, in the Prefence of 
divers Friends. Now I hope you will recover. To whom 
Mr. Dod anfwered. You think to comfort me by this, but 
you make my Heart fad : It is as if you fhould tell one that 
hath been fore Weather-beaten on the Sea and conceived 
that he was arrived at an Haven where he longed to be, 
that he muft go back again, that he may be tofled with new 
Winds and Waves. II He called Death the Friend of Grace, 
though it was an Enemy to Nature 3 and whereas the Word, 
Sacraments, and Prayer do only weaken Sin Death kills 
it. II He would often say in his Sicknefs, I am not afraid to 
look at Death in the Face. I can fay. Death where is ths 
Sting ? Death cannot hurt me. He fyzke how Death way 
a fweet Sleep to a Christian 3 adding. That if Parents 
fliould tell little Children, who had played all the Day, 



( i6 ) 

that they mufl go to fied^ they would be ready to cry j 
but a labouring Man's glad when Night comes that he 
may go to Refl: Thus wicked Men Death is unwel- 
come to but a Child of God, who hath laboured and 
furred, is glad when Death comceh^ that he may refl 
from his Labour. 

FINIS. 



XX 111. 

FAWSLET. 

1658, occurs the following gratifying tribute to Mr. Dod's 
character, as a Christian Minister : — 

" As for his inward stormes ; they were very many, and exceeding 
bitter, (together with a number of bodily infirmities, attending him in 
his younger yeares) but it was well for him, that he bore the yoke in 
his youth. And none, that I know, can now set out these to any pur- 
pose, (if ever an occcasion be offered) but that eminent and learned 
Divine, Dr. Harris, that knew so much of his temptations and desettions, 
by reason of that intimate aquaintance he had with him in those dayes, 
(being his Kinsman besides) occasioned the more, by the often recourse 
he had then into those parts, for the fetching of some spiritual refresh- 
ing from that Divine of Divines, Mr. John Dod, that was both able and 
willing to speak a word in season to a broken and a contrite heart." 

'* Famous Mr. Dod (that would say, so much Latine, was so much 
flesh in a Sermon.)" 

A. 6. 

" Mr. Dod his own self (as I have been often told by this great Divine) 
would seldome end his devotions, in his own family, but with the use of 
the Lords prayer." 

Beverse of A. 8 . 
BrUiah Mugeumt 1416 a. 26. 

The Life of Master John Dod, who died Anno Christi 164)5. 
Claries Martyrologie, Brd edition, 1677, pp. 168-178. 

[Account of] John Dod. 
Middleton^s Evangelical Biography, 1816, vol. iii., p. 171. 

Notice of Mr. John Dod 

Bumham*8 Pious Memorials, 1821, pp. 205-207. 

Account of John Dod, A.M. 

Brook's Lives of the Puritans, 1813, vol. iii., p. 1. 

The Worthy Sayings of Old Mr. Dod. 

Notes Sf Queries, 1880, 6th S., vol. ii., p. 327 ; 

vol. iii., pp. 13, 116. 

Notice of Mr. John Dod. 

Echard's History of England, 1718, vol. ii., p. 64^^, 

Account of John Dod, who is known as " the Decalogist." 
Nichols' Herald and Genealogist, part, xi., 1864, p. 417. 



xxiy. 

FAWSLBT. 

Notices of Mr. Dob. 
Ufe mJ Death cf Soberi Harru, D.D., 166a, pp. 11, 20. 

At the British Museum, among the Ayscough MSS., 
No. 4275> are some origiual letters by Dod, addressed to Lady 
Vere. In one of them, dated Dec. 20, 1642, he says he is '^ not 
far off ninety*seven years old." He lived until August, 1645, 
and on the 19th of that month was buried at Fawsley. 



V 



JUL 6- i,;. '